Percy Jackson Collection
by bookwormx10
Summary: Hey! So this is just a collection of all the PJO fics I've written. Some are multi chapter and some are one-shots. (also please note the multi chapter stories featured are incomplete)
1. All Roads Lead to Us

"Do you have to go for the whole summer? What am I supposed to do without my best friend?" Percy whined as he slumped himself against the now barren mattress.

Annabeth smiled at his goofy antics as she continued stripping her room of its personality. Down the blueprints of the Empire State Building went from her crisp white walls. Down the picture of a hugging Percy and Annabeth went. It had adorned her room for nine years. A clean, square slate of untarnished white remained as a ghost of the beloved picture. Annabeth continued packing all of her most treasured possessions collected from years worth of living, preparing for her leave to college in just months.

Beaten and battered cardboard boxes laid haphazardly around the room in an un-Annabeth like way. Some were taped shut with dark labels written in a pristine handwriting that took her far too long to do than Annabeth would have liked to admit.

Finally after a satisfied sigh and the last of the objects neatly tucked away in its proper box, Annabeth joined Percy on the naked mattress with a resonating thump!

She pushed his inky hair from his eyes and reckoned he'd need a cut soon. He looked upon her with windows to the sea, a tender vulnerability held in the glance.

"You know I've had this trip planned since the beginning of freshman year. And now we're official high school graduates." She kept her voice gentle and reassuring, her face might not have been as despaired as Percy's, but she felt the pain of being away from him in her own ways.

Her brain turned and spun like clockwork with all the future specks of longing and loneliness. Percy being her best friend was an understatement. He was entwined with her being. His laugh held roots in her heart, his love for blue food of any kind was ingrained in her skin; everything good from his bright smile to everything bad with his quick temper was a part of her also. And now… well now Annabeth was leaving for two months.

Never had the pair been without physical contact for that long. They vacationed together, went to school together, ate together, and nearly everything else together. The pattern they had become so accustomed to throughout years of friendship was shattered as easy as the glass dishes tucked away in a cardboard box just feet away from the pair.

"I know. It's just going to be weird." Percy said sullenly. His face was drawn with downcast gloom whether he wished it to be or not.

"Don't worry I'll still text you everyday and send you lots of snapchats everywhere I go. And I'll be sure to find the best blue food in each state we visit." Annabeth replied lightly with a whimsical smile on her face.

Percy washed away the glum demeanor, opening his face to the troublemaker smile that Annabeth felt her heart swoon for, but knew she could never have.

"You better." He said with equal enthusiasm that was now displayed on both their faces.

Annabeth smiled broader in reply, tucking herself away into the folds of her best friends tan arms. She couldn't believe that this would be the second to last time she saw him in person for two months. Yet, she couldn't wait to leave.

The day started off with golden rays of light splashing on Annabeth's face, waking her from her deep slumber. Her hair laid messily around her head, covering her sterling eyes from the view of the morning. Percy's arm was wrapped around her waist in comforting protection from the cool morning air, exactly as it had been when they had fallen asleep. A serene, lazy smile crept on Annabeth's face.

Not even a minute later, Annabeth found herself making a muffled groan as a ping! came from her phone and ruined the tranquil atmosphere.

Blindly, Annabeth moved her hand around until she felt the rectangular object within her grasp. She brought the lit up screen to her face. There was five unread messages from Piper. Annabeth scrolled through the messages still slightly dazed from her peaceful sleep.

7:25 a.m.

Piper: Hereeeeeee! Get up girly! We've got adventuring to do! I made a hella rockin' playlist and Rachel brought that really cool speaker she bought from her trip to Japan- you remember that? And Hazel made MUFFINS!

7:30 a.m.

Piper: Ok Sleeping Beauty, seriously get your butt out here. Rachel threatened to start painting my arms if she has to wait any longer

7:32 a.m.

Piper: Annabethhhhh you stupid slut get your ass out here

7:33 a.m.

Piper: OMFG I'm literally going to kill you. I told you to be ready by 7:15

7:40 a.m.

Piper: Ok guess who ate your muffin. ME. I did.

Annabeth's eyes widened with realization. She had forgotten to set her alarm in the midst of packing the previous day. She quickly replied to her other best friend, Piper, saying she'd be out in five minutes.

Hastily, Annabeth leaped from the bed, knocking Percy awake and ran like a madwoman throughout her house trying to get ready at the speed of light.

"Well someone's in a rush." Percy mumbled in a husky voice. Annabeth loved that morning voice, but now was not the time to fawn over it.

"Can you comb my hair while I brush my teeth?" She asked slipping a dark grey tank over her figure.

Percy shifted his body so it was opposite of Annabeth's, giving her the privacy to change.

"Yea, no problem, Wise Girl."

In just under four minutes Annabeth was ready.

Percy walked her out to the sidewalk just as Piper started to honk the horn on the atrocious yellow van.

The van had been Rachel's findings. It was a Volkswagen type 2 and far more glamorous than when she had found it nearly beyond repair in a junkyard one year ago. She had been searching for pieces of metal, cans, and bottle caps for an art project that had ended up winning a prestigious art award within a national competition when she stumbled upon the mechanical disaster.

At the time nearly all of its frame had withered away into a rusted hunk of fly guts yellow, but Rachel saw its potential beauty. She brought it home via help from an unhappy and more than slightly disdained father and pitched its usage on the road trip she and her three other best friends had planned since the beginning of high school. Well, Annabeth had planned since the beginning.

They were hesitant at first, but through extra shifts at work and tremendous amounts of love the van became a source of glory and pride for the girls in just a few months. It's color still remained a sight for sore eyes (sunglow yellow sounded nice when Piper first picked the color, but it failed to live up to its name), but Hazel and Rachel had attacked it with paint brushes filled with purples and blues and pinks and greens.

By the time they needed it, the van was wrapped in blooming, fluorescent flowers. Forest green vines traced the outline of the frame, looping into the names of the girls- Piper, Rachel, Annabeth and Hazel.

The interior had been a harder challenge. Everything had to be replaced. The original seats were ripped and disgruntled, harboring all types of vermin. A pungent odor wafted from the walls with the scent of moldy cheese and dirty dishes. Again, Rachel greeted the task with optimism, giving Annabeth and Piper the opportunity to design a van worth living in for two months.

Now, the van had plush, white pillows on retro pink seats. A bubbly lamp was super glued to a fold out counter. The walls were adorned with varying types of wallpaper from zebra prints to 40s floral design to plain, old black.

Annabeth sighed in content at the familiar sight of it. This would be the first time they all actually rode in it.

Piper leaned forward from the driver's seat, Hazel sitting besides her. A manic grin crossed the brunette's face. Her round sunglasses, reflected the morning glow.

"And the princess finally returns!" She shouted in glee, a happy laugh gurgling the words.

From the back seat, Rachel popped her head in between Hazel and Piper to get a better look at Annabeth. Her ginormous red hair consumed all else in the vehicle.

"Annie! You showed up!" Her freckles bounced with the formation of a smile.

Hazel remained quiet, but shared the same ecstatic ambiance as the others.

Annabeth turned to Percy, just as soon as it sprang, the smile on her face fell into the depths of saying goodbye.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" She said softly, her voice quiet and still.

Percy nodded his head.

"Okay." He said, he rested his forehead against hers, soaking in the moment together.

A layer of peace blanketed the pair, freezing time for them to say their goodbyes.

A faint chirp from a bluebird sang a melody of bittersweet sound; high notes turning to low notes turning back to high. Everything about the few moments passed in a dream of perfection.

Percy twiddled a lock of Annabeth's golden hair before pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Have fun." His voice was pure honey, each word a fresh cloud of ecstasy that Annabeth yearned for.

"I will." She said, a drip of defiance hitting her tone, ready for the grand adventure she was about to endure.

Picking up her bag, Annabeth skipped over to the van, dumping her belongings into the back seat and waved goodbye to her best, best friend.

"So, when are you guys going to be official?" Piper gave Annabeth a mischievous smirk. She was of course referring to Percy and Annabeth.

They had been driving on the same highway for around an hour with the conversation slowly dying away and slowly focusing more on the pair of best friends, much to the blonde's annoyance.

Annabeth shifted in her seat, prying her sweaty legs off of the sticky leather seat with a sickening rrriiipppppp. She thought they could really use better A/C than the one the girls had in the van as trickles of sweat danced down her back, down her arms, and down her face.

"You know it's not like that. He's my best friend," She said it in a small, almost disappointed voice and added on, "Not my boyfriend."

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, everyone sees the way you look at him, and more importantly the way he looks at you. Love is practically radiating off of him. And besides you guys totally banged at Leo's grad party last week." Piper said dryly.

"Wait. What? You did?!" Rachel piped up excitedly from her book, her giant glasses teetering on the end of her nose from the sudden jostling movement.

"I did nothing!" Annabeth protested, but her cheeks betrayed her as a dark red blush painted the normally peach skin.

"Ha! I knew you did! Look you're all red." Piper yelled in childish victory. "And besides for at least two days after neither of you could look each other in the eye, but now it's like the two of you can't get enough physical contact." Piper continued slyly.

"That is not what 'best friends' do Annie. Best friends don't have sex with each other." Rachel told her, innocently enough, but with the same air of Piper's smirk.

"Okay fine we did! But we were both drunk so it doesn't matter." Annabeth crossed her arms, beginning what would be an eon of the silent treatment.

"How was it?" Piper quirked her eyebrow in question.

"Okay, that is enough! This topic is now off limits!" Hazel proclaimed. Her face flushed with the look of being perfectly scandalized. She fanned herself with her hand, clearly overwhelmed by the open conversation.

Piper and Rachel laughed at their friend's outburst while Annabeth tried futilely to suppress an aching grin.

"Ah, still the baby of this family." Rachel giggled.

"I am seventeen and going to be eighteen in December!" Hazel cried in defense.

"Yea, but I'm going to be nineteen in like two weeks." Annabeth claimed, taking the time to tease her friend, but not forgiving Rachel and Piper yet for pushing certain information out of her.

"Well we still love you anyways." Piper beamed with all her teeth.

Annabeth felt a tingling sensation bubble in her stomach. She knew this road trip would strengthen their friendship more than ever and she couldn't wait to make those memories that would do so.

The sun had set hours ago, giving way to the moon's guiding light on the droning road. Annabeth had volunteered to take the night shift while the other girls slept and didn't regret doing so. Their van was the only one left on the long stretch of pavement, allowing for the relaxing lull of the engine to calm Annabeth.

The stars were in full bloom, sparkling with the promise of something spectacular. Each one twinkled a little brighter than the next.

A soft Ed Sheeran song hummed lightly from the radio, etching out sounds of wonder into the blank atmosphere. The tune carried its way through the small whispers of wind created by the gentle air conditioning, swirling throughout the crevices of the vehicle.

Annabeth gave a small smile upon hearing the up and downs of Rachel's normally horrendous snoring. Annabeth felt as though good fortune was with her, not even Rachel was tainting the harmony that had seated itself around the blonde.

In the magical quiet that one can only find in the dead of night, Annabeth began to reminisce back to the planning of the road trip. She thought of how she got where she was by planning since she was fourteen. Her dad had told her to not get her head stuck too far into the fantasies of the trip as there was a great possibility it wouldn't happen, but Annabeth didn't listen. She had dived head first into a lake of dreams and wishes all revolving around the trip and she had made it happen.

Annabeth had met Piper in freshman year when the latter moved to the small town from LA after her movie star father, Tristan McLean, decided to retire from the show business and spend time with his family instead. At first, they had received multitudes of publicity with the paparazzi booking every hotel room possible, but over the years the photographers and public pests had died down greatly. Only occasionally was Piper again harassed by the flashes and shouting.

They had both been in the same English class and were paired together as partners on the first assignment of the year. They bonded over having both ADHD and dyslexia and became fast friends. It had been half way through that year when Annabeth told Piper about the road trip she was planning to take once she graduated.

The first time Piper had ever visited Annabeth's house the blonde immediately took the brunette to her room to show her the massive United States map that was hanging on her wall. The edges were worn away, rubbed raw from constant use. There were messy folds lining all across the states, but most importantly were dozens of red pins stuck precisely in different cities in nearly every single state and a frayed, red string of yarn connecting each point. It was Annabeth's road trip route.

Upon seeing it, Piper was instantaneously captivated with the idea. She imagined all the places she'd see, the people she'd meet, the stories she would live. Piper knew Annabeth would be the perfect person to have with her in that next great adventure.

The summer going into tenth grade Piper had met Rachel Elizabeth Dare at a local art class hosted by the local community college. Piper had been absolutely horrendous at painting and couldn't draw a stick figure to save her life, but Rachel had been magnificent. The pencils and paintbrushes only served as an extension of her body, her soul feeling the colors like her heartbeat and making designs as easy as breathing.

Piper had been mystified by Rachel and instinct told her she should befriend the girl with the crazy red hair. And so she did.

Annabeth had been a little wary of sharing the road trip with Rachel at first, but allowed herself to break down at least one of her walls and let Rachel into her sacred treasure.

Hazel hadn't come into the picture until near the end of junior year, when she moved to the school from her previous home in Alaska. Annabeth immediately took the younger girl under her wing upon seeing her. Hazel reminded Annabeth of herself when she first moved to the town years ago; alone frightened, and most of all- determined.

Friendship with Annabeth guaranteed friendship with Piper and Rachel, also, and Hazel was more the overjoyed and relieved to find such an amazing group of friends. They helped her escape her dark past filled with her mother's drug abuse and overall parental abandonment. They had rekindled the hope that had begun to wither in Hazel's life.

Annabeth had always questioned herself a little bit as to why she never thought of incorporating Percy into the road trip, as he was her one and true best friend, but she speculated that around the time she was arranging the trip in notebooks and on maps she was recognizing her liking towards him.

Perhaps, she reasoned, that maybe the road trip was even meant to run away from him, to avoid confronting those gnawing feelings that kept growing in her heart like wildfire. After all, she was notorious at running away… and it wasn't just Percy she was running from, but dark thoughts like those tarnished a night like this, so she ignored them.

Annabeth was drowning in the near palpable moonlight and her entwining thoughts by the time she pushed away all of her unwanted thoughts. Forgotten memories piped up like noisy schoolchildren. She worked herself into a haze of nostalgia and imagining that was thicker than the fog beginning to form around the painted, yellow van. She felt more relaxed than ever.

A serene tranquility made its way to her lips in the form of a beam not quite as bright as the moonlight, but far more dazzling than any jewel as she turned onto an exit leading to the girls' first hotel stop.

The essence of the trip was already sparking Annabeth with youthful delight.

She couldn't wait to experience more.

Piper stood in the middle of the gravelly road. It was in dire need of repair with chunks of concrete missing from it and uneven blotches of fresh and old pavement along with a chorus of potholes. One hand laid heavily on her hip, while the other shielded her kaleidoscope eyes from the blazing sun of midday. She peered around at the acres and acres of fields as drops of sweat trickled down her neck.

Hazel stood to the side, reviewing a map tediously. Tracing each road line with a dainty finger.

Rachel remained in the driver's seat composing the image of nonchalance with crooked aviators resting on her freckled nose. Her fiery curls shook in the wisps of summer's wind. Her jaw moved ferociously as she smacked on a piece of chewing gum, allowing the loud chomps to ricochet throughout the waving heat.

Farther down the road was Annabeth, her face illuminated with blaring red as she fumed. She threw her hands wildly in the air without caution to the flies beginning to swarm around her. Her hair was flying out of the bright pink hair tie constraint she had used to keep the blonde swirls out of her face and off her neck.

Piper plopped her hand down back to her side where it swung carelessly.

"Yep. It's official, we're lost." She said with confirmation to the other girl's pressing thoughts.

Hazel sighed tiredly, not unlike a mom who had four kids all crying and begging her to do something.

Rachel merely shrugged, unfazed by the situation.

Annabeth went ballistic.

"I can't believe you got us lost!" She cried in distress towards Rachel, putting her hands frantically on her head as if that would cool her temper. "I had a plan and if you had stuck to it we wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere!" She stomped violently toward the cheery van waving a daunting finger in front of her face and in the direction of the red head.

Wordlessly, Rachel exited the sunshine atrocity and opened the side door. The others watched on in a state of confusion as Rachel pulled out a red gingham table cloth and various foods from their small refrigerator.

She spread the cloth across the flattest spot on the road she could find, dumped the food on the cloth and promptly sat down.

"There," she said making a deliberate display of her arms fanning out as if presenting the hasty picnic to an audience. "Now we can all eat lunch and figure out what to do without Annabeth over here throwing a hissy fit. This is a road trip. An adventure. Not all things have to be carefully calculated."

That was Rachel. Brash and ready to act on the spur of a moment.

Annabeth grumbled something incoherent to listening ears and sat down begrudgingly by her friend. Cautiously, Piper and Hazel followed.

It was only a few days in and already the trip felt more excruciating and a hassle than a fun time with friends.

Hazel wanted to go home.

Before leaving their homes to cross the country with minimal communication or connections back to their primary residence, Annabeth, Hazel, Piper, and Rachel had to get their parents' permissions.

What they didn't get their parents' permissions on was buying fake IDs a week before leaving. They especially did not allow the girls to spend a day barhopping illegally while the teenagers bustled around on the streets, dizzy with alcohol and leaning on each other for support so none of them crash landed on the concrete before them.

But that didn't matter to the girls, who were giggling in the downtown of a random town that was a near perfect replica of all the other random towns they stopped in.

They were walking together, heels clicking on the cobblestone street. The faint, yellow tint of the streetlamps to the sides were their only guiding light besides the buzzing neon signs decorating shop windows.

Currently, Hazel was the only one anywhere near sober. Annabeth, who was naturally a lightweight yet still felt the need to take at least two shots of tequila, was practically being carried by her friends at that point (more specifically Piper, who through a series of grunts managed to sling Annabeth's arm around her shoulder and semi-carry/semi-drag the blonde across the road).

"Okay, only one more bar and then were done." Hazel said, exhaustion lacing her words with obvious fatigue. Her eyelids felt heavy on her face, drooping threateningly with the prospect of sweet slumber. She estimated it had to be near two in the morning.

Annabeth giggled in a ditsy state, seemingly unaware of her surroundings as if she were secluded in a secret bubble universe.

"Aw, you're no fun!" Rachel teased cheerily, linking her bare arm with Hazel's covered one.

She looked upon her friend with bright, emerald green eyes that flowered with liveliness. Her booming smile stretched across her face with the purest form of passion in all of the universe.

Hazel had never seen her so alive and amiable. She radiated life, sparkling with juvenescence, glowing with untamed bliss.

She was Rachel amped up ten thousand times.

The girls continued down the rickety street until they approached another club. Piper could feel the vibrations from the bass pumping inside before even laying a foot inside the place. The bouncer eyed them suspiciously as each girl presented their ID, but Piper flashed a winning smile she knew charmed so well, and they were all easily let in.

Inside Rachel was put on babysitting duty to ensure Annabeth drank no more, which proved simple enough as Annabeth instantly moved to the dance floor proclaiming the DJ was "playing her jam."

Piper found herself sitting at the bar, leaving the others to their own devices. She felt as light as a feather ready to fly away in the wind from her travels downtown. The tipsy feelings weren't enough to give her a hangover, but just right to give herself a pleasant sway in her step and thrum in her pulse.

The chair she sat in was a spinning one, it creaked with each shift of weight, hardly audible compared to the cacophony of music. Piper found herself turning and turning in the chair like a child when the bartender approached her.

He was stupefying.

Piper had pressing thoughts to make sure her mouth hadn't fallen agape in his magnifying presence. His electric eyes flashed with lustrous vividness. Piper doubted she ever saw blue before she saw his eyes.

His golden hair gleamed from the low lights of the bustling club, catching each wave of incandescence like dew drops on the freshest blades of thought he looked like a blonde superman. He gave a smile towards her, showcasing rows of impeccable white teeth.

She began to feel a bit woozy.

It was pathetic, really.

She blamed it on the alcohol.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" His voice was deep, drizzled in a layer of smooth velvet.

Despite her dumbstruck thoughts, Piper was quick with her words. She always had a knack for speaking. The correct string of words infallibly rolled off her tongue as easy as reciting the alphabet.

"Just a beer, please. Any kind will do." Piper responded with insouciance, a fitting shrug attired the statement.

Although her outward display showed an air of comfort and slight aloofness, Piper's insides were scrambling. She began to grow insecure about her raspy voice. Would the cute bartender hear it and be immediately turned off? Should she care?

The bartender nodded as if taking a command from a drill sergeant.

"Coming up."

Piper sighed contently. She was glad he hadn't made some misogynist comment about how a beer might be a little much for a lady like her to handle. Far too often had a man suggested some fruity drink instead that was more "feminine." Piper couldn't roll her eyes hard enough at men like those.

Within a minute the handsome bartender procured a dark amber bottle and placed it in front of Piper with a light clink! There was no label on the bottle to indicate the type of brew or brand, but that didn't bother her one bit. Tasting it would be unexpected and exciting with a slight anticipation. Just the way she wanted.

She picked up the bottle and took a sip, the foam tickling her tongue and lips. The flavor was rich, better than most beers she tried, with just a hint of lemon to bring a pleasant tang to the frothy drink.

The bartender seemed to be watching her, waiting to read her expression of dislike or favor. She could feel his gaze everywhere on her as though the blue was staining her skin.

"You like it?" He asked trying to contain an eagerness that's origin remained hidden. After all, Piper was only trying a beer.

Piper nodded.

She held the bottle a ways from her body, inspecting it as she turned the cool glass in her palm, fiddling the elegant designs with her slender fingers.

"It's a lot better than most I've had. I especially like that bit of lemony taste. Gives it some zeal. What kind is it anyways?" She asked with perky curiosity.

The bartender gave a sheepish smile, a faint pink tinging his cheeks. The bashful look made Piper's heart flutter.

"My buddies and I actually have a small brewing company with a couple locations. We're trying to get a start somewhere, but that," He said pointing to the bottle in Piper's hand, "is the crowd favorite."

"Well I approve." She said, adding in a flirtatious wink just for the hell of it.

The bartender's grin widened even more, if that was possible.

"I never caught your name by the way." He said, scratching the back of his ear, as if to hide his face.

Piper grew suspicious of all the attention paid to her. It was a busy night, the bartender surely had customers to attend rather than stand around chatting idly with her. But that was exactly what he was doing. Perhaps another worker picked up where this bartender slacked off in.

"Piper." She beamed in response.

"Jason."

Their eyes were both locked on each other, their faces had identical grins.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but can I get a drink?" Said a burly man in a slurred voice.

Jason's eyes shot up in surprise as if he had just awoken from a trance.

"Yes! Of course!" He said quickly, before grabbing a notepad and pen and scribbling something hastily on it. He furrowed his eyebrows together as though the task at hand was somewhat difficult. "I never do this." He mumbled to himself.

Jason tore the sheet of paper from the pad, passed it Piper's way and proceeded towards the man to take his order.

Piper looked at the sheet of lined paper, reminding her of her times in school. She was glad she left those times weeks ago.

In blue ink and severe handwriting, the name "Jason" was scraggled on top along with a cell phone number. A glowing grin bejeweled Piper's face.

Just as she was about to speak to the superman-esque bartender, Rachel with Annabeth in tow approached their friend.

"We're going now. Annabeth is annoying as shit and frankly I don't feel like caring for her much anymore while she wanders off into La La Land. Hazel is at the door waiting for us." Rachel said bluntly.

Annabeth softly hiccuped, looking as though she would collapse with each sound.

Piper sighed with disappointment, but stood from the seat and ventured off with her friends to the door. She snuck the piece of paper into the front pocket of her shorts.

A secretive smile relaxed itself on her lips in sync with Hazel's relieved one once the trio arrived to the door.

Piper felt ready to take on the world, high on adrenaline, all from a silly cellphone number.

"Piper you don't even know his age! He could be a pedophile for all you know." Hazel reprimanded her friend as Piper contemplated the number etched onto a crumpled piece of paper from the previous night.

Piper waved her hand dismally.

"Please, Hazel. He was at most twenty-two. Besides I'm eighteen. I'm legal." Piper rolled her eyes at Hazel's overprotective nature, but was secretly touched by the overabundance of caring. It felt wonderful to know someone had her well-being in mind and loved her that deeply.

Hazel's held her dark hands up in surrender.

"Fine do what you want. But if you do go on a date with him you have to text one of us at least every twenty minutes so we know you weren't murdered by some deranged madman."

"Yeesh. I was just going to text him, never said anything about going on a date. And anyways, we're so far away from home, it's not like anything could happen." Piper said beginning to type a message to Jason, the boy in question.

For once, she was at a fault for words. It baffled her really, anything to do with speaking and conversing came so naturally to her so a foreign uneasiness settled in her stomach as her finger hovered over the keyboard on her phone.

A muffled groan came from the back of the van.

"Can you guys please shut up. I'm literally going to die if you talk anymore. My head feels like it's been jackhammered for crying out loud." Annabeth complained from her makeshift bed, a ragged towel shielding her eyes from any stray light. She massaged her exposed temples in circular motions to relieve the tension and stress building up.

Her friends recognized the extent of her hangover. Annabeth never used "literally" in a nonliteral sense unless she was really hungover.

"You're the one that wanted to party." Rachel muttered under her breath, but loud enough for the blonde to hear.

She couldn't see it, but Annabeth sent a nasty glare the red head's way.

"It's so hot in here. Why did the A/C have to break?" Rachel fanned herself with a flier advertising a local bakery from one of the towns they stopped in. She was sprawled across Hazel who was (unfortunately) sitting in the back with her.

"Are we almost there? We've been driving for like six hours." Piper whined, banging her head against the headrest in torturous boredom.

"No, 'we' haven't been driving for six hours, I have!" Annabeth seethed through her teeth, crouched over the steering wheel.

"Can't we all just be friends." Hazel piped up lazily.

"Hey, Piper, wake up." Rachel nudged the brunette, who was curled up in the passenger seat snoring softly, with her free hand while the other remained on the wheel.

Piper murmured something incoherent and rolled her shoulder away from Rachel.

"No, I mean it." Rachel slapped her friend with her freckled hand.

Piper jolted awake. She rubbed her arm where a sharp sting arose from the harsh smack.

"What do you want?" She asked grumpily.

"Look," Rachel pointed almost frantically out the window at a person to the side of the desert road. "Is that a girl hitchhiking?"

Piper sat up better and leaned forward to get a better look. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my god it is!" She shouted, jostling awake Hazel and Annabeth in the back.

"I'm gonna pull over." Rachel said, sticking her tongue out over her lip in concentration as she slowed the vehicle to stop at the girl.

"What's going on? Why are we pulling over? Is the van okay?" Hazel asked with dreariness in her voice and a massive bedhead.

Piper turned around to inform them of the current situation as the girls looked at her expectantly.

"We saw a girl trying to hitchhike."

"She looks about sixteen. Oh my god, she could be in so much danger." Rachel exclaimed as they finally arrived to a stop.

She was right, the girl was about sixteen, Piper observed. She had flowing caramel hair that was draped carelessly, but elegantly down her shoulder in a low ponytail. A navy blue visor shielded her eyes from the relentless sun. She appeared to be wearing a white night shift as though she had just woken up. Thin sandals, deteriorating at the seams were the only things protecting her delicate feet from the blistering dirt.

The girl stared at the van with almond brown eyes, awaiting for her approachers to speak with her.

Piper rolled down her window.

"Hi." She said.

"Hello." The girl replied.

"Do you need a ride?"

"Yes." Her tone stated that it should've been obvious she needed a ride. Why else would she stand in the scorching heat with her thumb held outwards?

"Okay, come in." Piper said and directed Annabeth to open the side door.

The whole situation was bizarre. The road they were travelling on was in the middle of nowhere, not a home to see in sight for miles and miles, yet here this girl was. Another thing was the girl's attire- it was absolutely unsuitable for the environment and time of day. And then there was the fact she had no bags and was attempting to find a ride by herself.

"What's your name, sweetheart? I'm Piper," Piper introduced herself as the girl settled herself into the car and Rachel started the engine again, continuing down the barren road. She pointed at each of the girls respectively and continued introducing them. "And this is Rachel, Hazel, and Annabeth."

Each girl gave the hitchhiker a wave and a smile, but their lips were a little too tight and their smiles a little too forced.

The girl bit her bottom lip nervously as she fiddled her fingers in anxiousness. She averted her eyes from everyone in the van.

"I'm Calypso." Her voice quiet, but held a firm stubbornness. It was much easier to recognize in the quiet of the van.

"How old are you, Calypso?" Hazel asked politely, concerned they had accidently picked up a minor.

"I just turned eighteen." Calypso didn't appear to be lying despite looking much younger for her age.

"Where do you need to go?" Annabeth asked the girl kindly.

"Las Vegas." Calypso seemed to only keep her sentences short and to the point. There was no room for any embellishments and flourishments.

"That's perfect! We're headed there now. We'll just be stopping at a campsite for the night and then make it there tomorrow."

Calypso only nodded in response. She seemed comfortable in her blanket of silence.

Once pleasantries were over, Rachel began scolding and ranting Calypso on the dangers of hitchhiking, especially for a girl in such a desolate place.

"So you thought the best idea to get there was hitchhiking? Are you even aware of how much risk you put yourself at? A young girl like you could've been easily killed or worse out here. You're lucky we came along, people who will protect you, but it could've been anyone else." Rachel had to grip the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white in order to constrain her anger.

Calypso seemed even smaller than before. She slumped into herself in a meek state.

"I needed to get away from a living situation. I ran through all the options and the rewards outweighed the consequences." Although she explained her reason for her risky activities, Calypso still hung her head low in shame.

Rachel didn't press any more questions.

Hazel placed a loving hand on Calypso's forearm and sent her an understanding smile. Hazel knew what it was like to escape a troubled homelife and the desperation that accompanied it.

Calypso returned the smile with her own look of relief and kindheartedness.

Rachel witnessed the whole interaction through the rearview window. Something unrecognizable flared up in her chest upon the site, but somehow the red head new not to prod at the feeling. It felt toxic.

The sun had set on the horizon and an unseasonable chill set in the dry western air. Annabeth had gone to bed in the tent she had pitched on their campsite while Piper and Calypso roasted s'mores over the smoldering fire. The latter was still a bit shy, but as the night flickered on she continued to get progressively more talkative and open.

Piper noticed the way she leaned a little into Hazel and how Hazel recuperated the action. The two were practically snuggling on the lumpy log they sat on. And more importantly, she noticed the side-eyed glances Rachel was sending their way.

"So, Calypso," Piper started off with a mouthful of sticky marshmallow and melting chocolate. "What're you planning on doing once we're truly in Las Vegas?"

Calypso remained silent for a moment while she munched on her own s'more, spilling graham cracker crumbs that dusted color onto her tintless frock.

"I actually have a friend there who is expecting me. He owns a mechanic shop and offered me to stay free of rent while I try to get my own start. What I really want to do is open a flower shop. Gardening just harbors a really special place in my heart. It feels like I'm truly giving back to the beauty that has been lost in the environment over the years." Calypso's eyes twinkled with mirth as she expanded on her interests and aspirations.

Piper nodded once Calypso was finished, impressed by her true heart and genuinely good goals.

"That's so awesome you want to do that, I really hope it goes well for you. Flowers are such a happy thing, and God knows we need a little bit more happiness in this world." Hazel beamed enthusiastically, sharing the same gleam in her eyes as Calypso.

Rachel remained silent for the entire ordeal.

Calypso grabbed for another marshmallow. It was still white and cushiony from lack of heat exposure, but that would soon change as the teenager jabbed it onto the burnt end of the roasting stick. She scooched a little closer to the fire in order to get the perfect position that would make a golden and gooey s'more.

"Careful of getting too close to the fire, Calypso. You wouldn't want your hair to catch on fire and burn it. It'd be pretty ugly then, oh wait…" Rachel drifted off with feigned innocence. Her tone carried a spiteful air with a splash of wickedness.

Hazel and Piper looked at her incredulously as Calypso shrunk into herself. Rachel replied with a look asking "What?" as if she was unaware of the implications her statement had made.

The redhead relaxed back into her former position on her own stump.

"All I'm saying is there wouldn't be much to ruin." Rachel threw in a shrug with the snooty attitude.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed." Calypso said in barely a whisper. She set her roasting stick down and cradled her arms to her chest as she made her way to the tent.

"I'll follow her." Piper said with exasperation and a puzzled look at Rachel.

Once the others were gone, Hazel turned toward her friend.

Silence filled the air between them for the few minutes that lapsed past. The only noise was the crackling of the dying fire. The orange glows casted eerie, elongated shadows onto Rachel's pale face.

"What was that?" Hazel asked with a touch of disgust. Never had she seen Rachel act in such a hostile way for unprecedented reasons.

"I don't know what you mean." Rachel said defiantly, not daring to look Hazel in her molten gold eyes.

"Are you really going to play that immature game?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, exaggerating every movement.

"Well, maybe I didn't feel like burning my eyes out with the image of you and Calypso being all cozy with each other." Rachel said bitterly.

Hazel took that statement and ran it over in her head a million times, leaving a long gap of nothingness for many moments. She dissected it and prodded it and scoured for every hidden message.

"Are you jealous?" Hazel asked gawking, coming to the unlikable conclusion.

"No, not at all." Rachel said with so much sarcasm that the most oblivious person would be able to understand the double meaning.

"You idiot." Hazel said, rolling her eyes and marching herself to Rachel. She pulled her friend by her scrappy, blue night shirt and firmly planted her lips on her.

Rachel melted.

She was kissing the stars. She felt the sparkle of Gemini, the shine of Pegasus, the luster of Scorpio. Everything was so breathtaking and new. So bright and dazzling.

She was kissing the moon. Each curve in Hazel's lips was a crater. Each movement was a new phase; each phase equally as beautiful as the next.

She was kissing the universe. All the suns burning her lips. She felt the softness of Hazel's skin like it was stardust. Her lips were a black hole, taking all of her love. She took in every single galaxy with all of its life and wonder; all of its grace and uniqueness.

She was kissing Hazel.

Rachel rested her forehead on Hazel's, panting from lack of breath. A desire deeper than the oceans filled her heart, craving for more.

"You need to apologize to Calypso." Hazel whispered.

"Okay." Rachel whispered back.

"You need to get her safely to Las Vegas."

"Okay."

"You need to kiss me again."

"Okay."

"Alright Calypso we're here, but Annabeth is going to walk you in along with Piper. I know you said this guy is your friend, but we don't know him. We want you as safe as possible." Rachel said to the caramel haired beauty.

Calypso nodded, understanding their concern, after all the girls were dropping her off at a man's house that they had no prior knowledge on.

Rachel had made her amends with Calypso that morning at breakfast. She had pulled her away from the rest of the group as Annabeth made oatmeal over a new fire. Rachel sincerely apologized for the cruel way she had treated the other at the fire the night before.

Calypso had been hesitant to accept the apology, but eventually forgave Rachel after she explained the situation and owned up to her actions rather maturely. Calypso knew a thing or two about the way envy and love could twist one's perception of things and make a person act in a wicked manner; she'd be a hypocrite if she refused the red head's apology.

Annabeth and Piper, meanwhile were still ignorant to their friends' relationship. Rachel had explicitly asked Calypso to not talk about it or discuss it with the other girls. Neither of them knew of Hazel's or Rachel's orientation and they wanted to come out to them at the right time in the right place and under the right circumstances.

Hazel was especially fearful of rejection from the group despite knowing how deeply they loved her. The fear was riddled in her being. The Alaskan town she had lived in was highly conservative and especially racist. She faced ridicule on a near daily basis for her skin tone, so even thinking about what the townspeople would do if they had known she was gay left her with unshakable anxiety.

Calypso respected the couple's wishes and wished them the best of luck before she was escorted into the tiny yellow house she would be calling home for an indefinite amount of time.

There was a small, pale blue porch in front of the house with newly repaired stairs leading to the heavy oak door. The paint on the porch was in desperate need of a fresh coat; around every other plank had its covering peeled away to reveal the bare wood beneath the color. The house was a hodgepodge of old and new, broken and fixed, beautiful and hideous.

The trio stood at the door ready to ring the doorbell. Piper pressed the round button, a sharp ding! wailing out instantly. Calypso teetered anxiously in her odd getup as they waited for the house's occupant to answer the door. Both Piper and Hazel had offered her a change of clothes, but Calypso had stubbornly denied, stating she was comfortable in her choice of attire.

After five minutes ticked painfully by Annabeth was about to propose they just leave and Calypso could travel with them for the rest of the road trip when a loud clang came from the house as if someone had fallen. Once the sudden sound passed, heavy footsteps replaced its presence, and finally the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was a scrawny man of around twenty. He had wiry hair that stood up in strange directions as though he were a mad scientist and couldn't have been taller than 5'5". His fingers tapped relentlessly on the frame.

The moment he saw Calypso his deep eyes lit up in recognition and overwhelming joy. He quickly launched for a hug, which Calypso happily obliged.

As they rejoiced in what appeared to be a reunion, the man cradled Calypso's head as though she were a newborn baby, too delicate to be without care.

"Oh, Calypso, I was so worried about you." He muttered into her streaming hair, drinking in all of her scents at once. "I was so nervous when you said you were coming to my place. There were a million things that could've gone wrong. A million things that could've gotten you hurt." He tightened his grip on her as he exclaimed this, indicating he wanted to keep her from endangering herself again.

"I know, Leo. I know. It was dumb and jeopardizing, but I needed to."

Leo nodded against her shoulder.

While the pair gave each other their sentiments, Annabeth and Piper stood awkwardly to the side unsure of what to do now that they had completed their task of bringing Calypso safely to the home.

As if reading their thoughts, Calypso expressed an "Oh!" and untangled herself from the excessively long embrace.

She spread her arms out, pointing to the girls.

"Leo, this is Annabeth and Piper. They brought me here along with two other girls, Hazel and Rachel. Annabeth and Piper, this is Leo." She said pointing to Leo.

They gave a small wave to the impish man and a respectable "Hello." He returned the actions.

"Here you guys can come in and we can chat for a couple minutes, if that's all right." Leo said, widening the door in invitation.

The girls agreed and were lead into a dated kitchen by the homeowner. They sat at a table loaded with varying papers, pieces of metal, and food wrappers.

"It's a little messy, but what're you going to do." He said glancing at the cluttered space.

He then proceeded to open the refrigerator and rummage through its belongings as he asked the girls if they'd like any refreshments of any kind. They all declined having stopped at a In-N-Out Burger only an hour before driving to the little, yellow house.

Leo pulled out a beer from the crisper and turned back to the girls. Piper saw the bottle he was holding and something about the design struck her as oddly familiar. A sense of deja vu washed over her.

"You wouldn't by any chance know a Jason, would you?" Piper asked Leo with a peak of suspicion.

While Calypso and Annabeth had given her a look that suggested Piper had just grown a third eye, Leo immediately perked up.

"Yea, he's one of my best buddies. We started a brewing company right from this kitchen actually," He said patting the faux marble counter beside him. "But that lame butt had to move to Wisconsin along with another friend. I mean, they spread the company there. But still." He took a swish of beer. "Any reason you ask?"

Piper waved her hand.

"No, nothing."

That was a complete lie, it was something. She knew she could trust leaving Calypso with Leo. After her brief time in Wisconsin with Jason, she had remained in contact with the blonde superman. They texted almost on the daily and he had only ever shown signs of being a gentleman and good natured person. He often raved about his friends, never having anything negative to say.

"If you don't mind, Annabeth and I should leave now. We don't want Rachel and Hazel sweltering in that wretched van, do we?" She let out a breezy laugh.

Annabeth shot her friend a look of confusion.

"Don't we need to…" The blonde dragged off, giving a look at Leo to finish her sentence.

Piper subtly shook her head in response. Without questioning her further, Annabeth silently agreed with Piper.

"I suppose we do." Annabeth said.

"It was nice meeting you Leo," Piper told the man. She gave a friendly hug to Calypso in goodbye. "Remember you have all of our numbers if you need anything."

"I know." Calypso said, hugging her new friend back.

"And stay safe." Annabeth jokingly warned.

With a few last words and a couple of waves the pair were headed out the door.

Once the door clicked shut on their way out Annabeth turned to Piper and said, "I don't know how I feel about leaving Calypso just like that."

"Don't worry. I know for a fact she will be safe."

Something in Piper's tone was so soothing and compelling that all the unease building up in Annabeth was wiped away in an instant.

Piper was right- Calypso would be just fine.

Before the girls entered the glitzy casino with its flashing lights and over the top decorations, they all made a pact that whatever happened in Vegas would stay in Vegas. It was horribly cliche, but it made the situation all the better.

Animated prospect rose in all of their souls, filling them with an endless energy that was surely from another dimension. A great zeal passed between them. Everything was so staggeringly alien. Hazel felt as though she had just fallen down her own rabbit hole and found her personal wonderland.

When they opened the golden doors that coincidentally matched Hazel's eyes, they were promptly assaulted with the heavy scent of smoke and the deafening sound of slot machines. The whole place was one goddam sensory overload.

The carpet was a ghastly pink from the 80s and the walls were an indiscernible color, but still none of those factors ruined the enchantment of the mini gambling mecca.

Adrenaline whizzed through each of the girl's bodies, pumping more adventure and hungry chaos into each cell.

They agreed to only playing poker, as they'd most likely lose and wouldn't have to face the complications of trying to illegally collect their winnings.

They sat down at the lavish table awaiting for their cards to be distributed to them. The dealer was a tall, Puerto Rican girl with a dark, dense braid billowing over her shoulder all the way down to her hip.

She gave a beguiling smile towards Piper, making the latter feel the heat of a blush. She fluttered her thick lashes and eventually settled on a more than suggestive wink.

Like the girls said, whatever happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.

The evening had started out with the van breaking down in the middle of a desert road while on their drive through the Californian landscape. By now the vivid purples and enticing blues that had once bloomed life onto the sunny vehicle with flowers and calligraphy had faded from weeks in the implacable sun.

Rachel got to work on finding the problem and fixing it before her and her friends were totally stranded in the death trap without cell service.

Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth set out the red gingham cloth while their friend worked and began a game of Go Fish with the weathered pack of cards they had found on their stop in Las Vegas.

Everyone was miserable as their bodies began to grow sticky with sweat, their tongues dry from thirst, and as the stench of body odor filled the plutonian air. They had run out of deodorant days ago and were seriously regretting their decision to hold off buying the much needed product.

After five rounds of Go Fish and a prideful winning dance performed by Annabeth, Rachel came back to the group, flopping on the cloth with sweat beading down her face.

"What's the verdict?" Piper asked, looking up from her handful of cards.

Rachel swiped her arm across her face, leaving a trail of grease to stain her freckles. Hazel instinctively reached to clean it off, but stopped short of the motion after remembering her secret relationship with the red head.

"Not good. The engine's being fussy, but I should have it done in a few hours. We might as well camp out here for the night. We'll just all sleep in the van." She closed her eyes, soaking in the few precious moments of laziness she had left before returning to her stodgy work. Rachel was really beginning to resent her friends for not learning more about automobiles. It wasn't fair to be the only spur of the moment mechanic.

The rest of the evening passed the same way it started. It wasn't until the sun had set in a blaze of magnificent purples and pinks and the sky had given view to the shining of the stars did Rachel say the van was finally fixed.

The girls uncomfortably squeezed themselves into the space of the van, keeping all their limbs at unnatural angles.

Annabeth mused how any of them had fallen asleep.

Piper woke to the heinous sound of glass shattering against the side of the van and inconsolable sobbing. Frantically, she jolted awake, knocking Rachel in the face with her feet during the process. She leaped across Hazel, climbed over the front seat and exited the vehicle taking careful notice to Annabeth's absence.

As the door slammed shut Piper could hear a faint grumbling from Rachel about interrupting her 'beauty sleep,' but the words promptly melted back into snores.

She could feel blisters erupting on the pads of her feet the minute her bare skin hit the scalding ground. It couldn't've been later than six in the morning and wisps of pink still colored the paling clouds from the early sunrise, but the heat was still insufferable. Perspiration already began to soak Piper's silk pajamas.

As she tiptoed outside of the van to the side where the alarming raucous was coming from, Piper had to stop short of her steps and instinctively drew in a breath at the site before her.

Sitting on the ground, hysterical was Annabeth. Her morning hair was spread sporadically on her head and around her face, each honey colored curl glinting in the soft glow of the sun. Her face was frightfully crimson. Her eyes had puffed to double their normal size. Waterfalls of salt water gushed from her tear ducts.

Lying beside her were five empty bottles ranging from having contained beer to being wine coolers, but all shared one simple factor- they were all alcoholic. Piles of broken glass laid pathetically near the doors to the vehicle having caromed off the peeling paint.

Piper wasn't sure how much Annabeth had drank or when or even why.

"Annabeth!" She cried out in fear for her friend, taking five steps closer to her.

That's when she noticed the blood.

Annabeth's grey shorts were nearly totally soaked in blood in the back and front. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

Still, Annabeth sat there unaware of her friend's presence. She was in a frenzied trance of overwhelm and couldn't process anything but the sweet pulverization of her drinks.

"Oh my god this is not good." Piper ran to scoop the blonde into her arms knowing she was too far into a state of delirium to reason with. She fought back tears beginning to creep in the back of her eyes.

Annabeth's skin was even hotter than the ground. She was on fire with a radical fever.

Piper tried to pinch away the panic dotting her blurred vision.

The other girl clutched onto her like a lifeline as she carried her to the passenger seat of the car. Piper hadn't even known she possessed the strength to hold Annabeth, let alone whisk her away into the van.

With shaking hands Piper fastened Annabeth into the seat, but she didn't seem to notice or possibly did not care about her relocation as she continued on with her crying.

Piper slammed the door shut and raced to the other side, swiftly pulling onto the long stretch of road and heading back to the nearest town.

By now Hazel and Rachel had awoken from the loud clatter of sounds.

"What's going on?" Hazel asked, fright dripping in her voice. Her luminous eyes were broad in anxiety, glancing at Annabeth in trepidation.

Piper took a few quivering breaths before stating, "It's Annabeth, obviously. I don't know what's going on, but i found her smashing bottles on the van. I think she's drunk and she has a fever and is bleeding everywhere… and oh god! I need to get her to a hospital." She began to hyperventilate.

Rachel put a relaxing hand on the girl's tan shoulder.

"Take a deep breath. It's going to be fine." Her voice was even and melodic, but even through the soothingness Piper heard Rachel's own jaggedness.

Would everything be fine?

Annabeth was in a state of highly questionable physical health and fractured mental health. She screamed at something unknown and stained the vinyl seats in fresh red. They had no cell service to call an ambulance and were an unknown distance from the last populated area.

Piper pressed eighty-five on the fifty-five road.

She wasn't sure everything would be fine.

There was no one else in the drab waiting room. Piper paced tensely across the worn, gray carpet. Hazel and Rachel sat in the two lone chairs, holding each other's hand as they watched the door expectantly, waiting for the doctor to appear and announce Annabeth was out of surgery and safe in a bed.

Piper silently acknowledged Hazel and Rachel's affection, having always suspected something more between them, but was too distraught to truly address their relationship. Besides, she pondered, they'd relieve their status to her when they were mentally and emotionally ready.

"I'm gonna call Percy." Piper announced, finally stopping her anxious movement.

Rachel's face paled.

"I can't believe we forgot to call him."

"That doesn't matter. There were a little more pressing concerns." Piper said as she dialed the number into her phone. She exited the room into the privacy of the illuminated, brightly white hallway.

As rings persisted in her ear, she sank down onto the tile flooring, arching her back into the cool wall. It was probably around seven in the morning back home, she thought. Percy might not even be awake.

Just as she was about to give up and end the call a groggy voice answered, "Hello?"

Piper sighed with relief, resting her head on her hand as she tucked her knees into her petite body.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked in an increasingly panicked voice.

Piper could hear rustling in the background as Percy got out of his bed. She felt her body go rigid. Of course Percy would know something was wrong. Her tone of voice conveyed it all and the fact it was Piper calling instead of Annabeth made things oddly suspicious.

"Okay I just want you to sit down and relax yourself because everything's going to be fine." Piper talked slowly. After waiting a moment to allow Percy to settle she continued, "It's Annabeth-"

She wasn't able to finish her statement as Percy hurriedly interrupted her.

"Annabeth?! What's wrong with her? Is she okay?" Percy was spitting words out faster than the speed of light as he approached a panic attack. He couldn't imagine anything happening to her. He'd be devastated if she were harmed in anyway.

"Percy, calm down." Piper commanded in a forceful, but mellow tone. "She's fine. She's in surgery right now because she had been hemorrhaging bad;y. She lost a lot of blood, but we got her to the hospital just in time. The doctor had said a lot of other things, but it was all just complicated medical drama that I couldn't really understand.

Now we're just waiting for her to be out of surgery. She'll need to stay in the hospital for a few days and once she's out I'm going to fly back to New York with her, since we're in Cali right now, but Rachel and Hazel will drive the van back."

Piper took a deep breath in trying to relax her nerves that were going haywire with worry. Percy did the same.

"I'm flying out there. Right now." Percy's voice was threaded with steel intransigent that Piper knew would take too much strength for her to break.

"Percy, you can't. She doesn't need more stress. Adding more people to the equation will create stress." She sighed, fatigued as small sobs formed in her throat and guggled out of her mouth.

She was just so done. Everything about the past hours had festered on her initial glory that had still thrived in her heart from the beginning of the road trip. She was drained, devoid of all the lush feelings that she had grown so used to accompanying her. Her elation had vanished, the glint in her eye had extinguished, the hope in her heart wilted away with each ticking second.

On the other side of the country, Percy began to grow with alarm. He had not meant to make Piper cry, even if she had been on the verge of doing so without him. He only wanted to see Annabeth.

His Annabeth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I won't come. Just please let her know I'm thinking of her." Percy tried to console his friend."

"Thank you." She whispered back, overflowing in her darkest mindset.

The doctor arrived in the waiting room to find three sleeping girls, all holding on to each other.

"Are you here for Annabeth?" He said, startling Piper awake.

She looked at him and nodded.

"She's all done. Perfectly healthy now. You can go see her, if you'd like."

Piper smiled bittersweetly and nudged her other friends awake.

Together, hand in hand, they walked the long, sterile corridors to Annabeth's room.

Their road trip might have not gone as planned, but it remained true to what they all desired.

They had had an adventure.


	2. But in the End We're All by Ourselves

"You need to take a break."

The red head stood in the door way, leaning against the frame. The sharp glare of sunlight shadowed her face from view though her wild curls gave off a slight, almost coppery sheen.

Rachel crossed her arms defensively over her body; her voice conveyed her iron will. She wouldn't let Annabeth work herself to death, not in the state she was currently.

The cabin was desolate except for the two. The wind outside whistled in the windows and the unseasonably chilly air crept its way to the bare arms of the blonde.

"Rachel, I found a new lead. I-I can't stop. He wouldn't for me." The last part was whispered, filled with too much hurt and sorrow to be turned into a louder volume.

Her body was slumped over her desk, exhaustion reeking from every part of her. The blonde curls fell in greasy clumps on her head in the way fall leaves leaves held to a tree- just barely hanging onto their original state.

When was the last time she showered?

"Annabeth, you working until you're just dust won't bring him back."

Rachel caught the glimpse of sadness and fresh tears brewing in her stormy gray eyes just before Annabeth turned her head the other way.

"I know." Annabeth laced her words with her overbearing emotions that were in a constant rush. "I don't think he's ever coming back."

She was hopeless, in utter despair at the lost of her best friend and boyfriend. The world wasn't a world anymore, it was a savage black hole that'd eat anything good until all that was left was everything bad. There was really no point in dragging the search out any longer, he was gone. Just like everyone else in Annabeth's life.

She laughed bitterly to herself at the thought of all those who had left. First it was her dad. Then it was Thalia and Luke, a family that loved her for who and what she was and a family she loved equally back. Percy had been the constant she needed and now he vanished.

Her laughs quickly dissolved into sobs.

Rachel was quicker than lightning in wrapping her comforting arms around her friend. She didn't mind when Annabeth stained her shirt with tears or when her runny nose left an ugly trail on the back of her sleeve.

"I miss him and he's not coming back. Why does everyone abandon me?"

Her voice was like a child's- innocent and questioning, truly wondering why this was happening to her.

Rachel realized the significance of this- Annabeth let down her pride for her. Annabeth stopped caring what Rachel thought and broke down every window, every wall and let the floodgates run their horribly long coarse. Annabeth was in so much more grief than she originally imagined.

"No one ever stays." Annabeth's voice was the sayings of a ghost, words of another world that haunted the living soul.

"I'm here. He'll be here soon, too." Rachel told the blonde, not sure herself if the words would ring true.

Neither of them left the Athena Cabin for a while.


	3. Darkness in the Tents

PROLOGUE

Rumors had always swirled in the air like flies in a swarm when the circus came into town. It'd be there overnight out of the blue. Instead of an empty grass field a red and white, tattered and tired tent would be set up hanging together by only threads. Each year it would come- always at random times. No one knew how long the circus would stay and no one knew if circus was truly the right word. Freak show may have been a better description. It never failed to show in over forty years. The circus always came.

Yellow and pink rain stained fliers would be found stapled to posts and lying on benches in the dreary coastal town. They were the same every year just like the circus. Parents always nudged their kids away from the fliers if they were to ever catch their attention. Those red and white tents were a source of taboo. The older population of the town whispered of black magic being used. The religious side accused the workers of devil worship. And then there were those few daring people, the ones that had a spark of rebellion nested and fed in their hearts, the ones willing to see the much talked about circus. Those people varied though almost always they were teenagers. Teenagers with piercings up and down their bodies and tattoo clad arms. Teenagers in mini skirts carrying Gucci purses. Teenagers with ripped jeans and oversized college sweatshirts. It didn't matter what social circle you were from, only if you were daring enough to lift the heavy flap of the big top tent and sit in the rickety bleachers that were a law suit waiting to happen.

Admission was always free at the circus. There was no ticket man or greeter. One simply had to walk in and take a seat in the dimly lit area. It was damp inside the tent with a collection of moisture sticking to everyone's forehead and back. The humidity of the place was almost palpable.

Anxious chatter replaced the tent of its eerie silence. Friends would nervously talk with each other each wishing they could go home soon, but still holding a peculiar longing to stay and see the show. No one ever went twice to the circus. No one held that particular longing more than once. It didn't seem human if one were able to.

After everyone who was coming arrived the show would start. The air would become ten degrees colder, the teenagers holding their arms against themselves to brace their torsos from the sudden chill. A sparkler would light itself in the middle of the room. The crowd would jump back in fear than laugh and gawk at the mesmerizing light display. When the lights finally sparkled to their last ember he'd be standing their like the devil himself. The ringmaster was a short man with a round belly. Not noticeably intimidating at first. Inky black curls framed his face and his watery blue eye held a mad malice. His rosy lips would curl into something sinister as a vile snake. His gaze would lock on the crowd, boring into each member of the audience individually and seeing the crowd as a whole all at once. He was a magician in himself.

Then he'd deliver his famous line. A line that in itself was a death sentence and the path to enlightenment.

"Let the show begin."

Chapter 1

"You said you went to the circus when you were sixteen. Is that correct Miss Darnbell?"

"Yes that is correct." The aged woman nodded solemnly, clearly in discomfort over the topic being discussed, but too strong and stubborn to back down from the oncoming questions.

"Would you mind describing your experiences there? And your experiences before and after?" The significantly younger girl's mousy brown hair fell in front of her face. Only a third of it remained in the messy, relaxed pony tail held together by a fraying hair tie. Her hands were poised, ready to jot down notes. The lined paper beneath her palm crinkled as she flipped to a fresh page. She placed the metallic graphite on the years old journal, ready for action. Ready to take down a story every other person was too scared to even think of.

Miss Darnbell inhaled in a sharp sigh. Her exhale was deliberately slow, stalling for time she did not have. She could only hope to procrastinate that particular question. The woman felt her wrinkled hands clasp around each other in silent prayer. She thought of the horrors of that day so many years ago. Miss Darnbell remembered everything as clear as crystal waters despite eons of suppressing the vivid memories. She fought so hard with her mind to release herself of the anguish of knowledge. Miss Darnbell always knew her extreme efforts would not work. She always knew she'd end up in a spot like this. No one left the circus untainted. Everyone got a little stained.

"No, I would not mind." Miss Darnbell responded faintly in a feeble, vacant voice. Her pale eyes glistened over like frost on a window on a cold winter's day. There was something unforgivable about the way she answered. It was as if Miss Darnbell was responding to her interrogator instead of a teenage girl.

The girl looked up from her thick rimmed glasses expectantly, but not without compassion. Her brown eyes danced with the thirst of curiosity. This circus was shrouded in mystery and here she was with an ax, about to break the ice.

Miss Darnbell heaved yet another sigh, this one much shorter and defeated before beginning with her story.

"Well, to understand my story you must understand my good friend, Lena." She began. "She was a wild one. Her hair was teased higher than the Empire State Building. She wore tight clothes that accentuated certain, ah... attributes. Her tops always cut a little too low and her bras pushed up a little too much." Miss Darnbell smiley fondly at the memory before nostalgia made her mouth fall into a small frown. She missed Lena.

"Anyways, you need to understand that where we lived, Lena and I, it was a conservative town. Girls were treated unfairly for expressing themselves the way Lena did. I always admired that in her. She was so brave and bold. She wore what she liked and she wore it with confidence. I always wished to be a little like her, but instead I stuck to sweaters and jeans, skirts and blouses. The respectable choices, naturally." Miss Darnbell's brow furrowed in frustration as if she was upset with her own actions.

The girl jotted down notes, her hand flying and whipping across the page faster than a bullet fresh out of a gun.

"I remember the day we went to the circus better than any other day in my life. I remember it better than even Lena's death. Yes, she's dead now. She has been for quite some time, cancer the doctors said. But I don't believe that rubbish. Lena wasn't the type to be taken by illness, she went on her own accord. She knew it was her time and she accepted that. She had a daughter, Miranda, if I am correct. I don't know where Miranda is, but last I heard she was with a no good, son of a bitch boyfriend that does pot more than he does her." Miss Darnbell said, getting lost in her own world. The white, sterile walls of the room suddenly seemed encasing like a wire rimmed cage with no way out. Still, Miss Darnbell continued with a fresh tenacity.

"It was a Monday night when Lena came through my bedroom and announced we were going to the circus. My parents had always warned me about it. But Lena seemed so sure in going that I couldn't argue. I wish now that I did." She closed her eyes in remorse, steadying herself for the rest of the story. "We went the second year the circus came into town and even by then it was a source of fear and shame. No parents even allowed their children to think about the existence of that retched place." She spat out the words wit a surprising ferocity.

"But no one could deny it. Even in the first years the tents were ragged and worn as if they were centuries old. When it came into town the air got a little cooler, a little stiffer. The wind blew a little less and howled a little more. It felt like everything else was just background noise and the circus was a throbbing heart impossible to ignore.

"But none of that is important, is it? You want to know what happened at the circus and I'll tell you. Almost every person in the audience was between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, no one there was younger, but there were a few in their mid-twenties.

"Lena and I sat in a front row seat, the wood of the benches was greatly eaten through and terribly damp. Pure disgust crossed my face as my pink skirt touched that seat. Lena sat on it as if it were a throne. Next to us was a boy from my class, Patrick. A lovely boy with orange-blond hair and a constellation of freckles across his face. He gave me a severely nervous smile once I sat down. It didn't help to ease the nerves. The entire atmosphere of he place had held quite a gruesome quality.

"The circus started with great, roaring fires. I remember feeling the heat sear into my skin like Hell fire. It was quite the shock factor, if I do say so. The heat of it lingered on my skin for ages after that as if it wanted to ravage every inch of me away. The fire had a persona of it's own and I still can feel it to this day." A shudder ran through the woman's fragile body.

"I'm sorry, I can't talk about this anymore." Her voice grew stern and cruel, unwavering in it's statement.

The girl looked up from her journal, mouth gaping like a fish.

"But..." She said dumbly. Miss Darnbell had just begun to tell the details of the fascinating story.

"No, I refuse." Miss Darnbell turned her head in defiance.

The girl swallowed a gulp and continued, "Miss Darnbell, can you please tell me about some of the acts? I won't bother you after that, I promise." She crossed her fingers in foolish hope.

Miss Darnbell turned to lock eyes with the girl. Intensity waved off both of them.

"I am willing to share with you one act, but that is all." The woman's voice clipped each word to bring across the pint that she was highly unhappy continuing the conversation.

The girl could hardly contain her childish grin of delight and nodded for Miss Darnbell to continue.

"There was a contortionist. She twisted and bent her body in grotesque ways that shouldn't have been humanly possible. They called her The Snake and she lived up to the name. A white body suit clung to her body like her skin itself. Silver patterns of flowers and vines decorated her all over. She was an ironic spot of purity in the sinful tent. Or that's at least how she was initially presented.

"I remember how her blond curls rippled down her back and the gold of them shone even in the dim, eerie lighting. Her smile was the stars of heaven come down to earth and her gray eyes were so wide. She was beautiful. And she wasn't alone in her acts." Miss Darnbell stopped abruptly as if she could not speak any further. Her lower jaw clamp tightly shut and her lips pressed sharply together in a thin white line.

"Miss Darnbell?" The girl asked tentatively.

"No, that's all I'm saying. I'm sorry I shouldn't have chosen to speak about her. I... I knew it would lead to him. " Miss Darnbell shook her graying hair and the girl could tell this interview was over.

Chapter 2

FILE NAME: Unknown

REPORTING OFFICER: Klein, Daniel

VICTIM NAME: di Angelo, Bianca

:/Error: 427/: Computer cannot retrieve full document

NEWS ARTICLE- "The decaying body of 14 year old Bianca di Angelo was found on November 27, 2002 by prospecting civilian, Amy Klein... Miss di Angelo was an underage and underpaid performer at ▬... Suspected of illegal immigration... Location of younger brother, Nico di Angelo, currently unknown... Based on head injuries murder is suspected...Questioning of ▬ will pursue..."

Chapter 3

"Annabeth." He said in one cool word. His voice was silky and fine, coarse and rough, and more perfect than the stars.

Annabeth didn't even bother to turn around to speak with, just continued on stretching.

"Yes?" She brought her right leg over her shoulder, curling herself into a ball. She had to be prepared for tonight's act, they were in a new town with new people.

The thing about these towns was they thought they were special. They thought they were the only ones visited by the respectable freak show. They didn't realize that the performers were constantly on the move, constantly stirring up trouble when towns got blanketed in warm peace. Tranquility was overrated.

The man uncurled her from her position, much to her annoyance and brought her to her feet. Annabeth felt his strong arms pulling her up then wrapping them around her midriff. He placed a lingering kiss on her neck and she pretended not to shiver.

"I was wondering if you'd like to take part in my act tonight?" He said right to her ear in a low, husky whisper.

"And have knives thrown at my head?" She whispered back, turning her head so their lips were grazing each other.

"I promise they won't hurt a tiny blonde hair on your head."

She loved the feel of his warmth against hers. His breath becoming her breath. She loved him.

"Well if you say so."

He grinned at her in wolfish delight.

"You, my dear, are the best."

"I know." Annabeth sad placing a quick kiss on his lips before returning to her stretches.

She trusted him with all her heart. She knew he was an expert at what he did.

So then why did she feel apprehension at being his partner tonight? She had been multiple times before and like he said, one of his knives never hurt her.

Yet the anxiety crept up into her muscles and down her spine like a taunting spider. She tried to suppress a shiver. Too bad this one wasn't caused by a kiss.

Chapter 4

Amy Klein's hand crept down the spine of the old, browned book. The gold labeling had come off from years of exposure in the small town library making it read, "T E MIL ERT N F AK SH"

instead of, "THE MILLERTOWN FREAK SHOW." She wondered if she could even call it a book, it was really just a photo album.

She knew the book probably hadn't been touched in decades with it's thick lining of dust and placement in the very back of the library on a shelf that was hard to spot even when someone knew where it was. The librarian, who'd worked there for the past forty years, didn't even know the book was in existence until she looked it up in the old filing cabinet.

Inside were decades old photos dating back to the 1920s and earlier with little snippets of the history behind each faded image. Many of them were yellowed and the faces indistinguishable, but that didn't do anything to lessen the peak of interest Amy had in the town's old legend. The freak show still came to town, only it wasn't called a "freak show" anymore and was advertised as a circus. The town's mayor had been trying to show it down for years, but they hadn't had any violations yet. Though they came close...

Amy shoved that thought to the back of her mind, not letting it fog her well-being. She was still surprised that the police couldn't find substantial evidence to bring the forsaken thing down and demolish it, but even after the death of the girl and speculation from the press, nothing was found to be against code in the ancient tents.

Again, Amy had to force herself to suppress the memories that still haunted her after all these years. It was over a decade since she acquired them anyways.

She flipped through the thick pages, eyeing each person or people featured in a photograph. There were conjoined twins with light curly hair in one picture, standing in front of the familiar striped tent. Underneath it read, "Castor and Pollux- born in Iceland in 1911 were found abandoned by ringleader, Dionysus, and brought to America in 1920. Both died in 1926 after attempted separation."

She shivered a little, her red hair crossing into her eyes. The pair stared eerily at the camera in the photo, both expressionless, both already looking like ghosts.

She continued to flip through the pages stopping only when something really stood out. She was eyeing a picture of a blonde girl contorted in a pretzel shape when she spotted a crown of dark, familiar hair from the corner of her eye. Something went off in Amy's head, like an alert signal to stop what she was doing and vacate the premise, but she went and looked at the picture anyways.

In a picture by herself was a very pale girl, with very long locks of black, wavy hair and chocolate eyes. Underneath the photo read, "Caprice Barzetti, age 14- Queen of Ghosts," but Amy knew that wasn't Caprice. The withered and skeletal girl in the photo was Bianca di Angelo, the same Bianca di Angelo she found dead on the beach back in 2002. This photo was from 1932, seventy years earlier.

Her head spun as if she had taken too many tequila shots. She felt a wave crash down on her from the heavens. Her mind brought her back to that fateful November day.

She had just been looking for loose change or fallen rings with her metal detector as she did on her days off from work and school. Amy was saving for a trip to Hawaii and so far just from her weekly outings of metal detecting had made over a thousand dollars for the vacation. She was ecstatic when the machine had begun beeping over a nice clear area of sand.

Amy had begun digging, expecting to find a lost bracelet or a few quarters. She hadn't expected to find a cold, pale hand with a crescent moon bracelet. She hadn't expected to find the dead body of a fourteen year old.

She was only twenty-two when she found the deceased Bianca di Angelo. She had called the police station and her cousin, Daniel Klein, was put on the case. She remembered throwing up on the side after the uncovering and how it had taken weeks of therapy to get over the situation.

She never visited the beach again.

Amy knew Bianca di Angelo was once a beautiful girl, it was evident in her corpse and the finding of her body nearly shut down the freak show as her body showed signs of foul play linked back to the happenings in the red and white tents. Fortunately for the show, nothing was ever found to convict them of anything, not even Bianca being an underage worker (somehow they had papers showing she was licensed to work, despite it being illegal in their state).

But that was in 2002 and now Amy Klein was thirty-six years old and in the library flipping through a photo album dating from the 1920s and 30s and even earlier than that. She couldn't understand the same Bianca di Angelo could be featured in a photo from 1932 when she died in 2002. She couldn't understand how both the picture and the corpse were identical.

Her world began to grow darker and darker...

Chapter 5

"Luke, you can't do this. I will tell Chiron." Percy growled, the stench of anger wafted in the humid air of the enclosed tent. Static electricity crackled endlessly between the blonde and him.

An arrogant smirk danced on Luke's face, his scar crinkled with the intensity of lightning, ready to fatally strike.

"If you want to keep your precious princess alive, then you won't go to Chiron. I think you know very well what I'm capable of." Luke said tauntingly, the cockiness in his smile beginning to slip away into something far more treacherous. A snap of electricity passed from his fingers. A sickening shiver crawled itself down Percy's back on a scar he tried too hard to forget about. He did know very well what Luke was capable of.

Percy huffed, trying to keep up a persona of nonchalance and not let his cowardice shine through the feeble facade.

"I can move your blood and you dare to threaten me?" Percy was honestly a little astonished and Luke's ignorance. At least Percy had the ability to recognize equals, unlike Luke who placed himself on an untouchable pedestal.

"Now, now Percy," Luke said as if scolding a foolish toddler, feigning shame in his voice. "Don't you remember, water is such a great conductor of electricity." Percy's face dropped a bit. It was true, but that didn't exempt Luke from the rule. Percy could have him fry himself to Hell.

Percy's unshaken face dissatisfied Luke and a frown crinkled the slashing scar.

"Well, if you're not afraid of me, do you remember my friends?" Luke seemed a bit rueful having to use others in his fear tactic. "They'd have no problem taking your beloved. I'm sure she'd be great use to them."

Now, Percy was afraid. He stood frozen in place.

"And after all those decades together, loving each other. Where would you be without Annabeth? You'd be sad and broken. Lost. You'd feel the guilt of her life pressing on your shoulders every single day for the rest of your life. Do you want that? All you have to do is loosen a screw and your safety along with Annabeth's is guaranteed."

Percy wanted to hurl at the sight of Luke's manically, gleeful smile.

"Besides," Luke whispered in his ear. "You'll just be sending the Queen of Ghosts back to her friends. No, problem there. Caprice will love that."

"Her name isn't Caprice. It's Oria." He kept his voice stoic and even to show defiance.

"Oh, is that what she's going by now?" Luke sneered.

"No, it's what she's always gone by since we found her." His voice was still still.

"It's funny how she always changes her name, yet her little brother remains Nico. Seems like a secret Oria wishes me not to know."

"What is the point of this?" A small snarl wormed it's way into his tone. Luke saw the ember and began to stoke the flame.

"Oh, there's no point. Not really. So, will you loosen the crew?"

No response came.

"I thought that would be the case. It's a good thing too, Annabeth always seemed to be a good little toy."

Percy raised his fist.

"Ah, ah,ah. Not so fast." Luke wagged his finger.

Percy lowered his arm slowly.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Luke clapped him on the back.

"Pleasure doing business with you."


	4. Dear Miranda

Dear Miranda,

Hi. I know you're not here, not really. So many people keep telling me how you'll always be here. I don't really think that's true, but Dr. Day thinks I shouldn't think so negatively and was the one that suggested for me to write these letters. I miss you a lot. The house is really quiet without you now. Dad even flew in from Florida and is spending the next couple weeks with Mom and I. Mom arranged a really nice bouquet for the funeral. It was filled with all your favorites (even the little purple ones that are so hard to grow in this weather). I think this is all I can manage today. I love you.

Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

It's been three months. I don't see Dr. Day any more, partly because I lied about writing these letters. I told her I wrote to you every day even though I haven't wrote in months, that it's helped me greatly, but in actual honesty I haven't wrote anymore because I had nothing worth telling. Now I do. I'm not as sad anymore, I still miss you though. Dad hasn't left, I think him and Mom might even remarry. I wish you were here to see her smile. It's so beautiful, Miranda. It's like sunshine pouring right out. I haven't seen her so happy in a long, long time.

Do you remember Travis Stoll?

Well, if you don't, let me remind you.

He's a total ass. We were in art class today and he just had to poor blue paint all over my jacket. Well, actually your jacket. It was the one you wore all the time with the baby blue and pink stripes. It was the only thing that still smelled like you. Flowers and earth and cool mountain spring water.

I went home after that. Mom is still trying to get the paint out. At least I slapped him right across the face before leaving. That left him both blue and red. I didn't even get in trouble.

He's the kind of person that deserves a thousand slaps. He doesn't deserve anything, but horribleness. He's made my life hell since that first day of kindergarten and this is just the icing on the cake.

I hope you're doing well,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

Travis Stoll had the audacity to apologize to me with a bushel of flowers today. He even said he felt bad for ruining your jacket. Ugh! He is so infuriating. I doubt he has even a fraction of an ounce of guilt in his whole body. It was probably the principal or his mother that forced him to apologize.

The flowers were nice, though. Bright, tall tulips of purple and pink. He probably just pulled them from a neighbor's garden on the way to school. He wouldn't ever do something actually nice.

I guess I just needed to rant to you like old times. Do you remember when we'd rant to each other in your bedroom? We would sit on your bed with that old Bratz blanket you got for your 5th birthday. I'd go out and buy us Neapolitan ice cream. You'd eat the chocolate part, I'd eat the strawberry, and we always left the vanilla part to mealt.

I miss that.

With love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

Dad proposed to Mom today. I'm happy, I really am. Mom was glowing as bright as a star when she said yes. I just… I feel a little ignored now. It's like they don't have time for me between work and dates. I know if you were here you'd take a break from life and just play a board game or two with me. You'd make sure I wasn't lonely. You'd love me like nobody else.

Missing you,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

It's been a year since you died. I can finally talk about you without crying. Dad cheated on mom again, just before the wedding. She was a young blonde, bombshell. Hardly even twenty-five. Just goes to show what a pig he really is.

It's just the two of us now. Mom and I, I house feels really empty.

Is it bad that I don't really care he left? Is it selfish to feel happy that now Mom will have time with me?

I feel wrong, Miranda. But I'm glad he's going. After all, he wasn't that great of a dad.

Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

Travis Stoll sat by me at lunch today. At first I was livid. How dare that boy try to worm his way into my daily life. I don't have time for buffoons like him.

But… It wasn't that bad (much to my dismay). He tried to make small talk (I ignored him) and then we sat in a peaceful, partly uncomfortable silence. Actually, now that I think about it. He wasn't bad at all. Maybe I've been a little harsh on him. I think I'm still bitter over the jacket. It still has a large blue stain on the back. Mom tried her best, but even the best isn't enough sometimes.

Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

I've been tutoring Travis for the past three weeks. I take back what I said before, he really is a nice boy. Every tutoring session includes some sort of apology from him for all the pranks he's played on me. I hope he knows how much that means to me. Not many people apologize for the wrongs they've done. It really shows maturity, something he's been severely lacking for a long, long time.

I think we're friends now. He sits by me at lunch almost everyday and knows that strawberry is my favorite flavor (he's brought me strawberries on several occasions). It's nice. After your death a lot of my friends didn't know how to act around me, so just ignored me. Even Lacy. She'll wave at me every once in a while, but we haven't had a sleepover in ages or went to the movies together in months.

I miss my friends….

With Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

Did you know Travis had a brother? His name was Connor. He died from leukemia three years ago. I feel a lot more connected to Travis now, he knows what I'm going through. It's comforting to know I'm finally not alone. I still think about you all the time (just like Travis does Connor).

Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

Travis asked me to be his girlfriend today. I wasn't surprised at all. Things between us have been a lot more than just 'friends' lately. He'd wrap his arm around my shoulders when another boy started flirting with me. Our hugs goodbye would linger on for just a moment too long. Our hands would 'accidentally' brush against each other.

Just months ago I hated him with a fury so hot and red it mirrored the sun itself, but now… Now, those feelings are soft and warm, humming with happiness.

All throughout the day he was showing me off to his friends like I was the most beautiful diamond in the world, like he was the luckiest guy to be dating me. My cheeks were as red as the strawberries he brings me!

You'd love him, Miranda. He's funny and charming and his smirk could get him in trouble almost anywhere.

I'm sorry you'll never meet him.

I'm sorry you never got the chance.

Love,

Katie

Dear Miranda,

I'm so sorry. I haven't written to you in weeks, months even.

I've been on cloud nine since Travis asked me to be his girlfriend. My heart soars when he calls me 'his girl'. That trouble maker smirk is in my daydreams. His kisses are so gentle when they need to be, but greedy when both of us want more.

We haven't gone that far yet… but almost. He holds me in his arms like I'm a fragile piece of china and looks at me with a glow in his eyes.

I've never felt this kind of adoration before.

He's the world to me.

I think I'm falling in love with him, Miranda.

I think I'm okay with that.

Love,

Katie


	5. Drawing With You Makes My Heart Feel Tru

"No, Frank. The line needs to be a little more curved." A playful smile danced on her lips at the sight of her struggling boyfriend.

Hazel was trying to teach Frank how to draw a horse. His forehead was tight in concentration and his grip on the yellow colored pencil had no slack.

"It is curved!" He said in frustration not understanding why drawing was so hard.

The horse at the current moment looked more like a yellow tree than anything else. One ear was too large for its small, pointed head and the right leg was a great deal shorter than the left.

"Here, let me help."

Hazel took his hand in hers, a light, warm blush creeping up in her cheeks to match the reddening of his face. Her curls bounced wildly in her face and using her other hand she pushed them away.

Frank's hand was warm and a little clammy. Hazel's hand was calloused and petite against Frank's monster sized ones.

She could feel her blush blooming brighter, working its way to every inch of her face. Hopefully it wasn't noticeable, hopefully it was only heat.

"So we just need to dip the line down a hair more."

She glided his hand on the paper, creating the yellow outline of a horse's back. Her breath was a little shaky at the close proximity, but she reminded herself that Frank was her boyfriend and this was okay.

He looked up at her beaming like a child at Christmas.

"It looks so much better! Thanks, Hazel." His smile was a little smaller, more gentle and loving.

The horse still didn't look good. At best it could pass for a three legged cat, but Frank's happiness over it was so genuine that Hazel could never say the horse wasn't perfect.

"Anytime, Frank." Her voice was soft like the green meadows in the spring and the cotton ball clouds in the summer.

A shy kiss met her cheek with adoration. It felt like the rain drops on the petals of a flower that just bloomed, like the rolling of distant thunder on a muggy summer night, like the waves lapping at your ankles on a white sand beach.

The small kiss felt perfect.


	6. I'm Right Here

"I'm right here! I'm right here! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Annabeth cried out in anguish. Tears hurdled themselves in heavy streams down her cheeks. She went in to swipe everything off his stupid, solid desk, but her hands passed right through as she knew they would. It infuriated her even more, made the cries rush out faster. Her breaths were labored, her head was pounding. She slid down the blue colored wall, pulling at her hair like a mad woman.

"I'm right here, Percy." She bubbled out through the sobs. Her head felt like a mess, every little thought and emotion was jumbled together.

She didn't know why this was happening to her. She shouldn't have died. She shouldn't be here in Percy's room as a… as a ghost. At least that's what she thought she was. All Annabeth remembered was driving. Driving to Percy's and then… and then there was a crash. She'd first appeared like this, like a ghost just outside of her mangled body that laid more or less in the front seat of her car. There were police cars and ambulances. A man shaking his head saying something about how young she was…

She didn't control where she went or when she went in this form. She'd just pop into places without her consent and always it was to see some kind of aftermath of her death on her loved ones. It was like the fates decided to play some extraordinarily cruel joke on her.

She was now in Percy's room. The hardest place she'd been yet.

Percy sat in the black, spinning chair that normally occupied Annabeth's body, not his. She'd spin as he talked or listened to music or attempted to do homework. She had laughed in that chair a thousand times, smiled a million times in that chair, but never did she tell him I love you. Never did she realize those smiles and laughs were an 'I love you' in their own, but neither did Percy. She realized that now, how much her heart ached and yearned to tell Percy she loved him. And now it was too late.

Percy sat in that chair, his head in his hands. She could hear his sobs, each new wail a knife to her heart. It physically pained her to hear them. She was right here. Why couldn't he just see that? Why? Why? WHY?! She was just two feet away. She was right beside him, like she had been all his life.

His cheeks were rosy. His body rose and fell. His face was stained as her own.

"Please, Percy. Please, I'm right here." She managed to choke out in between coughs that erupted from the consistent cries.

"Please." She begged, so desperate, so absolutely hopeless.

Annabeth stood from her position on the floor and hugged Percy from behind.

"Please, Percy. I'm right here." She whispered into his hair, no longer even feeling. All feelings had been drained out of her by a starving black hole. Despair circled and weaved its way around her heart, in and out. She was encompassed by a shroud of darkness.

Still his body shook.

"A-Annabeth. I loved you. I-I l-l-loved you so much. And I never told you." Percy was barely capable to sputter that out.

"I loved you too, Percy. Percy, please I'm right here and I love you. I love you with a burning fire in my heart. And it's so fierce. Percy, please. Please. Just, please." Her throat felt hoarse. More tears fell, dripping softly like snowflakes onto Percy's gray sweatshirt. Annabeth loved that sweatshirt. It was the same one he had lent her during October at the football game. When things started to be more than friendship between the pair.

A light, tender knock came from Percy's door.

"Sweetie, it's mom." Sally's watery voice came from the other side. It was clear that she was holding her own cries from falling from her mouth.

Percy gasped and gasped, trying to even his breathing. He wiped his red rimmed eyes with shaking hands and stood up on even shakier legs. His long stride got him to the door in just a few steps.

Sally was there, dwarfed by Percy's size. Her tattered green pajamas hung limply on her body. Her mouse brown hair was pulled into a messy bun and her body sagged in tiredness.

Not even a moment after opening the door, Percy collapsed into his mother's arms. Both of them fell to the floor, kneeling on the soft, tan carpet.

Their sobs synchronized and despite Percy's weight and size, Sally held him up as if he was just a pillow. It looked as if all of Percy's strength had been sucked out by the same black hole that drained Annabeth of everything, not that that hole would keep her feelings for long. No, they were just starting to rise right back to full intensity.

"M-mom. I was going to tell her. That's why I called her over. I was going to tell her I loved her. It's my fault." Percy pushed himself away from his mom, pure horror crossing his face.

"Oh my god. It's my fault she's dead." He whispered terrified. He looked at his hands as if he wanted to jump out of his own skin in disgust.

Sally was furiously shaking her head. "No! No, baby, it's not your fault at all. It was a drunk driver that killed her, not you." She frantically rubbed circles into her sons back in a small attempt to comfort him and rid him of such incorrect and destructive thoughts.

He choked on another sob before saying, "Mom, it is. If I hadn't asked her to come or If I went to her house she'd still be here. I just want her here, mom. I just want her here. Why can't she just be here?" Each fiber of his being was breaking down with each broken word. He was just as desperate as Annabeth for each others contact.

"I am here, Percy. Why can't you see that?" Annabeth wondered allowed. She shook his shoulder, hoping for some sort of reaction. Even just the hint of acknowledging her presence. "Percy. Percy! PERCY!" Her volume raised higher and higher each time she called his name.

"Percy, you want me here and I am here! I'm right here! Look at me. Goddammit, look at me Percy! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Her voice was gone by now, nothing more than aching screeches. She was so frustrated. Percy begged for her and she was here.

"I SAID I'M RIGHT HERE!" She pounded on the wall, no noise escaping. She pounded harder. Nothing happened. She kept on pounding and Percy kept on sobbing. She was right here. Percy, she was right here.

Ψ

Orange and black caps decorated everyone's head. Balloons of the same color were tied on the chairs lining the aisle. Jason stood at the podium, ready to give his valedictorian speech.

I should be here, Annabeth thought from her empty spot in the rows and rows of chairs meant to host the families and friends of the graduates.

Annabeth smiled bitterly to herself. She had been so excited for graduation. It had been in just two weeks. Two weeks she didn't get alive.

She spotted Percy right away of course. He looked so handsome in the school's dreadful orange robes. Really, they didn't flatter many people. She studied him as best as she could from her distance. His face was expressionless as it had been since the day in his bedroom. He was like a stone now, unmovable and uncaring. He hardly had eaten anything the past two weeks and the sudden diet change was showing. His face was gaunt and hollow, eerie to compare to the normally smiling, red cheeked boy.

Annabeth hadn't been moved from the Jackson's apartment until now. The fates must have decided that it was time to taunt her with more what-could-have-beens. She really just wanted a break. She wanted to rest. All the emotional turmoil was too much.

Her thoughts wandered until she heard the unmistakable low voice of one of her best friends, Jason Grace. She had been so proud of him when he made valedictorian, though he never seemed to want it as much as one would expect.

"Um, hello." He said unsure into the mic. His voice dipped with nerves, he swallowed and tried to ignore the incoming crack of his voice.

"I had an original speech planned for this. One much more official and formal than how this is going to start off." He chuckled a little, still on edge and the crowd went along with him.

"In light of recent events, I want to dedicate this speech to one of my best friends, Annabeth Chase." Fought back tears could be heard in his strained voice.

"I- I met Annabeth back in sixth grade. She had told me that I squinted when looking at the board and should look into getting glasses." Annabeth smiled at the memory, something oddly fond to both of them. "She was an amazing person. Annabeth was one of those people that was just so determined in everything she did. Some might have called it stubbornness, I know I did, but she worked so hard. She worked hard in school. She finished in the top ten of our class despite having ADHD and dyslexia, not that those hindered her learning, they only made her more determined to show people what she could do.

"Annabeth was a one of a kind person, someone you only get to come across once in a lifetime. She deserved more than anyone I know to be here, sitting in her cap and gown, receiving her diploma. But she's not and that's not fair. I just hope she knows how much everyone misses her, how much I wish that I could give her her diploma myself. I hope she knows, wherever she may be that she deserved a much longer life, but even though she didn't get one, she lived the life she had to perfect use." By now Jason had let the tears flow down, but still maintained how many he would show to the public.

Annabeth scanned the students taking notice to all the wet cheeks, feeling very touched when she saw Percy standing up. His face was scrunched in discomfort, tears running unashamedly down his cheeks in furious waves. Finally, he was showing some reaction. But now he was leaving the ceremony.

Annabeth knew she had to follow him. She didn't want him to be alone. Even if he didn't recognize her presence.

She ran after him. He turned into the school, opening the heavy metal and glass doors with a giant, easy swing. He stomped more than walked down the long tiled hallways lit with dimmed lights. He stopped short in front of her locker where he used to meet her before lunch every school day. Annabeth kept a picture of them on the inside of her locker from a camping trip last summer. They had planned on going again after graduation.

Percy leaned against her locker like it was his lifeline, physically straining against the sadness that was set so deep in every crevice and nook of his heart.

"Why did you have to die, Annabeth?" He whispered to himself, but Annabeth still answered.

"I've been asking myself the same thing, Percy." Annabeth sighed, bringing her hand to his bicep. He still didn't register her touch.

"We had a future planned. We were going to go to college together. I was going to tell you I love you. I thought we might even get married sometime. I thought we were invincible."

"I know, Percy. I know." Annabeth felt shaky. She felt the tears pooling. She felt them dropping and running and spiraling down, down, down.

"I'm lost without you. I want, no need, you to be here Annabeth. I need you so bad." Percy said, still whispering as if he knew Annabeth was standing right next to him. As if it was late at night and Annabeth was staying over and he was telling her stories in that sleepy tone he got just before falling asleep.

Annabeth took one more step closer to Percy. She wouldn't be able to move anymore without walking through him.

"I'm right here, Percy. I'll always be right here." She whispered back.

And when she looked into his eyes, she swore he looked back.


	7. I Love You

The door softly creaked open. The light patter of her feet made their way towards the bed. Right away she knew he was still awake. Neither of them slept much anymore.

"Hey." She whispered, nestling herself into the covers along with him.

His breath shook raspy and worn. The tension in his shoulders still evidently there. A nightmare had undeniably occurred.

"Hey." He managed to choke out almost inaudibly.

Rolling over to face her, Percy saw how close they were, how he wanted to be even closer. He hugged her frame to his, resting his chin on her silky head of hair, only it wasn't so silky anymore.

"It was just really lonely by myself." Annabeth said, not needing to elaborate, not needing to say what that statement really meant.

She felt the nod of his chin on her head. His grip tight on her, but not too tight, just the right amount of tight. The type of tight that pleaded don't leave me, but with a slight looseness that said you're always free to go.

A twinge of sadness crept up in her chest, weaving an icy thread around the strings of her heart. How did they get like this?

They were strong and brave. They faced their fears on adrenaline and planning. Recklessness and calculation.

Now they could barely hold a sideways glance at those fears.

"What was it?" She asked delicately.

His hold tightened a fraction more. It was so small it was almost indecipherable, but she knew. She always knew.

"Please." Percy said, voice cracked and raw. The one syllable a giant plea for mercy. Begging to not relieve the terrors.

"It's not good to keep it all bottled up." Annabeth looked up at him.

His eyes were clouded over and incredibly dark in the minimum light. She could hardly make out the faint swirls of emerald that signaled an oncoming storm. They'd need to get another nightlight.

He took a sharp intake of breath like the air could save him from everything. Like the air would heal the past.

"You didn't come back with me."

Nothing else was said. He stared at her with fear, desperation, and above all love.

"I'm here now. We both are."

They laid there for a while drinking in each other's warmth and security.

Together they were safe. Together they could conquer anything. They'd look full on at those fears and shoot them down fast.

"Annabeth."

The way he said her name sent shivers down her spine.

It was like he wasn't just simply saying it. He tasted it on his tongue, rolled each sound in honey, pronounced each bit as a work of the universe. Coming from him her name sounded like telling the truth, greeting someone you haven't seen in a while, and gazing at the stars on a clear country night.

"Yeah?"

Grey met green and green met grey. Their eyes weren't so broken anymore. Some of that shattered glass had been swept away.

"I love you." His voice was deep, drawing out each word so slowly, so lovely.

It wasn't the first time they told each other that, but it was the first time one of them had said it like that. Like it was a fact carved in a stone, something so tangible that it could only be true. Something so permanent it would never be broken, possibly battered, but never split.

"I think I've found something permanent." She breathed her words out in wisps, afraid they were wrong, afraid because her something permanent was something that could be so temporary.

The night encased them, filling their pores and flooding theirs veins in its peaceful quietness. The silence fell on them like a blanket tucking them into bed.

Sometimes the silence of two people together, two people that love each other so inconceivably much, speaks in greater volume than any language could ever manage.


	8. I Really Like You

His lips were hot on hers. Tingling with the heat of a thousand stars. Waiting to burst into licking flames and devour everything on sight.

Her lips were sweet, chapped with raspberry lip color. She tasted likes dreams, clouds floating away in the summertime. Her being was like an overdose on love. She was radiant in every sense.

They wanted each other. They wanted their lips together. They wanted to cling to each other and fill that starving feeling that hung low in their hearts.

His hand brushed the bottom of her back, low enough to know they had each other, but high enough to still be polite.

"Jason." Her voice was like the river rushing after the rain.

He loved the rasp it gave. The rasp that was unique to her and only her. The way the words cracked at the end and sounded like they were trying to escape all at once and were staggering to slow down.

The kissing stopped, but the feelings lingered on. They were desperate for each other, desperate to fill that hollowness they shared deep inside their souls. They were looking for someone to share their life with. A constant companion that would finally understand.

Her eyes were dancing. Greens swirled with blue and blue floated in brown. Its like the colors were trying to convey her personality, beautiful and bold, intense and savoring. They couldn't keep up with such a person, but they compensated with their aquas, with their chocolates and hazels.

Nothing could keep up with Piper. Piper was too much for anything and anyone. She was the girl with a soul and heart bigger than a mountain.

"What is it?"

Jason grew concerned with the abrupt ending that included his name. Had he done something wrong?

"I-" Her words hitched, too quickly to make the rasp.

His eyebrows furrowed and glasses slid on his nose.

"I really like you." Her forehead was pressed against his.

He laughed. A short laugh filled with the sounds of love.

"I really like you too."

She grinned. White, somewhat crooked teeth glowed at him.

Mirth wove it's way in his sky blue irises. That hollow feeling that always sunk way down lifted a little now.

They finally found something.


	9. My Heart Bleeds Blue

"Annabeth." He whispered desperately, saying her name the way one would take a deep breath; he took it all in slowly, automatically, bringing it to the bottom of his lungs and out again.

His voice was cracked and raw, burning with the force of a wildfire. He couldn't talk smoothly, he couldn't think clearly, he needed her.

"Percy." She closed her eyes, not daring to let the tears slip, not daring to show her hurt. Although, all thoughts of keeping her emotions inside were destroyed with the exhausted, sad sigh that escaped from her lips.

"Please, we don't have to do this. We can get through it. Together." Percy pleaded, grasping at strings that had already been cut.

She couldn't look at his eyes. She wouldn't be able to go through with it if she saw the swimming greens; the way his pupils dilated and how his irises glazed over with a wash of fresh tears.

"It's just a break. We're hurting each other more than helping." She finally got the steel back in her voice. The steel that could cut through the thickest ice and slice the deepest wounds.

That's what she was doing- slicing the binds of their relationship. But was she really? The few ties that held them together had already begun fraying, all they really needed was the gentlest breeze to fully break.

She knew she was right in ending them, if only temporarily, and Percy knew it to. They were ripping each other away from the inside out. The more they tightened their hold the deeper their nails dug into each others backs.

They were becoming too dependent, too needy. Tartarus left far more than physical scars and took away more than just innocence. They woke up in the dark, sweaty and breathless as if they'd run a marathon. A sudden noise or touch made their hands fling to each other like the strongest magnets in the world. They were set in reverse on a one way road and the only way off was to get out of the car.

They were getting out of the car, but not without obtaining a few scrapes and bruises. Many scrapes and bruises.

"W-we." Percy stopped.

He ached for Annabeth; to hold her body against his, to feel her enthralling heat and press themselves together until the only hint that they weren't one was a few blurry lines. His hand wanted to linger in her hair to play with her honey golden curls. He wished wistfully to feel the pressure of his forehead against hers, that familiar pulse that seemed to course through his own body.

But he knew.

Annabeth was right, they couldn't keep living the way they were. Not that they were living so much as surviving.

His head nodded in just the slightest. His lips were pressed tight in a thin, white line and his Adam's apple bobbed unevenly. His face pinched tight, trying to suppress the storm of oncoming emotions.

"I'll always love you." Annabeth finally let her tears fall.

They were too warm for such a miserable situation. They left too many stains on her red cheeks and told too many stories. She felt their saltiness seep into the splits of her chapped lips and felt the way they stung. They stung so badly.

"Annabeth…" There it was again; that deep breath word that seemed to be said for an eternity. That word that weakened her knees and melted her heart, but not today. Today she couldn't let that word wash over her like the spell it was.

"I've never had someone like you. I'd tear down this world for you." He said it with so much conviction and certainty that it sent a ghostly shiver down her spine.

It was so utterly terrifying to have someone love you like that. To have such a deep connection that the end of living was a better reality than living without one another.

"I know."

Their voices were all whispers, tiptoeing so carefully to not break the delicate air that laid paper thin between them.

How did they ever get this fragile?

Were they already broken?

"I guess this is goodbye then." His face lifted in a joyless, ironic smile.

"Yea, I guess so." Her words felt hollow, drained of the emotion and passion she thought they should contain.

Were all breakups this empty?

The words stayed between them as another barrier, another wall they'd have to tear down if they ever wanted to reach each other. The steel in her voice couldn't cut through these words, not this time.

"I wish it could've been different."

Hearing his voice hurt. Saying his words hurt. Everything hurt and everything was painted gray. A gray so dull and lifeless that no color or flair could survive. Their relationship could not survive. At least not yet (maybe not ever).

"Me too."

And that was it. She broke. He broke. Their tears had streamed down silently before, only showing the emotions, but not putting them through the actions.

Their sobs synchronized with each other. Their voices broke at all the same places. They clung on one another as they always had, but it was different. This would be the last time they used each others (limited) strength with their own for a while.


	10. Percy Jackson and the Wizarding World

The cake sat tauntingly on the kitchen counter top, marked with eleven candles and frosted with blue. Its delicious sweetness could almost be seen radiating off in sugar scented waves. Percy Jackson licked his lips in anticipation; soon his mother would be in to light the candles and sing happy birthday, then he'd be able to eat the confectionery delicacy. His stomach growled and his taste buds tingled, all ready for a bite of one of Sally Jackson's cakes.

He hoped so badly for nothing odd to happen this day. For as long as he could remember Percy Jackson was always a source for bizarre occurrences. First it was the strange people in brightly assorted robes that had always appeared at his schools when he was younger. Then it was field trips constantly going wrong.

Percy shuddered when he thought of the aquarium incident. It started off as a nice class trip, but then they got to the shark exhibit. He didn't mean to do anything, all he wanted was to get a closer look at the sharks and the floor seemed to suddenly disappear. The workers said he had hit into a lever that made the floor retract over the waters and needless to say Percy did not return to that school the next year.

But today, today had to be perfect. No weird happenings were allowed on this warm August day. Percy Jackson was eleven today and had the whole day just to him, his mother, and one of her famous blue cakes. Gabe was at work, nowhere near enough to bother him. Today was going to be great.

"Percy," Sally Jackson called from the living room. "You better not be eating that cake. You know it's for later."

"I know, mom!" He shouted back. He didn't need to shout as loud as he did. The home he lived in was quite small with only one level, two bedrooms, a just barely functioning bathroom, and a small living room and kitchen.

Still, the cake sat there just as luring as before. Maybe if he asked nicely, Sally would let them have cake before lunch. He could ask for it as a birthday favor.

"Mom," He said with a slight hesitation, he didn't want his mom getting upset with him. "Would it be alright if we had cake now?" Not once did his eyes leave the butter cream swirls.

Sally gave a small chuckle and entered the kitchen with a smile on her face and some flour in her brow. "I suppose that would be just fine." She said looking at her only son entranced by the dessert.

Percy's face lit up. How could he think his mom would ever be upset with him?

"Let me just go get some matches to light the candles." Sally said walking over to a cabinet.

When Sally returned to the kitchen counter top that Percy was huddled around she stroke a match on the side of the box to begin lighting the eleven candles. Only the match didn't light. She took another one out and tried again. Just like last time nothing happened.

Like children of his age, Percy was becoming impatient. How long does it take to light a match? He glanced around the kitchen for a quick second in a bit of annoyance, but was startled to see that when he looked back at the cake all the candles were now lit. That was very, very fast.

Sally eyed Percy in a way he'd never seen before. It seemed to be a mix of worry, suspicion, and dread. Though the look soon faded into a bright grin as she started to sing "Happy Birthday" to Percy.

When he closed his eyes to make wish, he stopped short. What did he want? There was so much he could wish for; for his mom to leave Gabe, for his family to have more money, for him to actually do well in school for once. He decided on something that covered all those areas. Percy wished for his life to go right and blew out the candles.

Ψ

The day had started out terrible. Thunderstorms rolled in in endless waves. The heavy rain, foreboding gray skies, and perilous lightning diminished all chances of going outside. So for the whole of the day, Percy Jackson was stuck inside with his smelly step father and his smoking, drinking, and poker games. So much for the wish he made just a few days ago.

"Hey, punk." Gabe called to Percy in a sloppy slur.

"What do you want?" Percy said already irritated by Gabe's small thread of a voice.

"Are you giving me attitude?" Gabe asked menacingly.

Without meaning to, Percy's whole body tensed. He still remember the last time he gave Gabe "attitude". Let's just say Percy Jackson wasn't a stranger to concealer.

"No, sir." He mumbled.

"Don't frickin' mumble kid," Gabe snarled. "Get over here and give me some money."

Now Sally had heard Gabe demanding for money, she felt it was time to intervene. "Gabe, sweetie," She said with the beginning of a cringe. "Percy's only a child. He doesn't have money to give you."

Gabe grunted in response. "Just go back to making your bean dip, Sally." Sally flinched a little when he ordered her around, but didn't argue.

Turning his attention back to Percy, Gabe asked, "Now why don't you have money? Huh, punk? There's absolutely no reason for you not to have a job by now."

Percy snorted, "Yea except maybe child labor laws."

Once the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them. Sally glanced at her son with eyes wide in fear. Gabe made his way up to Percy, grabbing him roughly by the collar of his shirt.

"Do you think you're funny, punk?" Gabe spat in Percy's face.

"N-no, sir." Percy cursed himself for stuttering.

"Don't stutter when you talk to me." Gabe said pulling Percy closer to him in a threatening stance.

"Gabe! That is enough." Sally yelled out.

With a glare as venomous as a snake's, Sally quickly quieted. "Now," Gabe started at Percy. "Why don't you just go outside and get out of my way?"

Percy didn't have it in him to argue that it was raining cats and dogs out and he'd get soaked to the bone. He marched himself out the front door onto the cement steps.

Luckily, a small awning covered most of the steps, so when Percy sat down most of his body remained dry. However, he did feel something crinkle beneath him. Curiously, he stood up to see what he had sat on.

It looked like a letter. Picking it up suspiciously, Percy saw it was addressed to him. Against better judgment, Percy reentered his house to open the mysterious letter wit his mother.

Gabe didn't miss a beat, "Did I say you could come back inside?" He said once Percy had only a toe through the door.

Ignoring the man, Percy called out to his mother. "Mom! I got a letter."

Apparently not getting the memo, Gabe sneered at Percy. "Are you dumb or just stupid? It's Sunday. You don't get mail on Sundays." Gabe's poker buddies laughed with him.

Percy was about to retort with dumb and stupid were the same things, but saw his mom entering the room. She wore the same face that had been on her on Percy's birthday. That look of worry, suspicion, and dread.

"A letter?" She asked cautiously.

"Don't feed into his lies, Sally." Gabe said up to her.

Like her son, Sally ignored Gabe too. For an unknown reason, the letter seemed much more important than any of Gabe's threatening taunts.

"Yea, a letter."

Sally made her way over to the raven haired boy. "Well let's open it then."

Percy of course noticed the tension in her voice. Why was his mother so worried about a letter?

Breaking open the red seal, Percy pulled out a cream colored piece of paper. The letter looked very official, like a school's. But why would any school want Percy Jackson as one of their students? He had a record to last him a lifetime.

Reading the contents, Percy's confusion replaced his previous suspicion. It was like any other school letter. There was an introductory and then a list of required materials. Only this letter spoke of witches and wizards and all first year students required wands instead of notebooks.

"Mom? What is this?" Percy asked, wondering if this was some kind of prank. Though if it was a prank, why was his mother so nervous?

"Percy, I should tell you something." Her eyes couldn't hold onto one spot for long. Guilt consumed all other features.

"What is it?" His voice strained.

"Not here. Let's go outside."

The pair rushed out the door in a way that alarmed Percy. Once out the door and onto the cement steps, rain splattering on their clothes, Sally took in a deep breath before looking directly into her son's sea green eyes.

"Percy," She started. "You're a wizard."

CHAPTER 2

Percy stared at his mother incredulously, mouth agape in a small 'o' and eyes glazed in a thin coat of shell-shock.

"I know," Sally said kind and soft with a smile to match. "It doesn't seem true. Or possible"

Well of course it doesn't seem true. Here was his rather sensible mother, telling him that he was a creature of magical being. A wizard. An apprentice of magic. Good for nothing Percy Jackson with his ADHD and dyslexia something that was so wonderfully impossible.

He could almost snort in response. Almost. The way his mother looked at him with a ferocious sincerity. Her gentle voice that showed no trace of malice. Unwavering words that couldn't possibly hold one wrong word much less a whole lie.

"Mom," He started slowly, unsure. "Mom, there's no such thing as wizards. Magic can't exist. It's not possible." But even as he said the words, he couldn't fully believe them. His voice faulted noticeably.

"Percy your father..." Sally said in a strangely strangled voice. Her eyes started to pool a little in the glistening preparation of tears. She was going to cry.

Percy had always felt uncomfortable when his mother cried. Wanting to step away from the sensitive topic Percy took his mother's hand as he did when he was a small child.

"We don't have to talk about him Mom."

In response she smiled to him. A warm, sad smile that contradicted itself.

"I wish we didn't, but we do."

"Why?" He could feel in his own voice the pleading for answers.

As Sally opened her mouth to respond to her son's question a hideous shout came from inside the house.

"Sally! Get back inside! I need some more beer." Gabe yelled.

She wore a defeated, tired look on her face. The lines the etched her forehead became deeper. Grays in her long brown hair became more populous.

"Just a minute, honey." Sally replied placidly back, even though her face was contorted in a way as if she'd been asked to eat something disgusting.

"Why do you put up with him?" Percy asked, suddenly growing angry. Squeezing his fists into tight balls, knuckles turning white, Percy was about ready to teach Gabe a lesson.

A small hand was placed on his tensed shoulder. "Now's not the time." Sally looked at Percy hoping he'd see the understanding in her eyes.

By the way his body relaxed, he did. He stood there expectant, waiting for more of their previous conversation.

"Percy," Sally faulted, not sure how to word her next statement. "Was... Is a wizard like you."

Taken slightly aback he did not speak for sometime.

"He was a wizard like me?"

Sally nodded.

"Wait..." Percy said baffled. "You said is. He is a wizard. I thought my father was lost at sea."

Sally looked down at the ground, but then back in her son's green eyes. The same eyes as his father. "Percy your father is not lost at sea. He never was. He's alive, but in a different type of world."

"He was alive this whole time!" Percy shouted unable to keep the growing rage inside of him.

"Percy you have to understand. He loved, loves, you and I both very much, but he's in a compromising position. Your father, Poseidon, is a very powerful wizard. If he were to ever see you it'd endanger you gravely."

"Endanger me!" Percy said, furious beyond belief. "I'm already endangered living with that sleaze ball Gabe! And now you're telling me that my father has been alive and could have helped us." He simmered, his skin felt hot and his adrenaline pumped. Anger was encompassing him.

"Percy, please try to understand. It's not his fault. He's only did what he thought was best for the family."

Percy snorted on the word family, but kept any other comments to himself for his mother's sake.

"I still don't believe in this whole 'magic' thing." Percy muttered stubbornly.

Sally gave her son a look. "Do you really not?"

Percy averted looking her in the eye and tugged at the sleeve of his shirt.

"No." He said. It was a simple word, but even the one syllable held a slight quaver.

"Then explain all those weird things that have always happened to you."

Percy thought back to the aquarium. The way the floor had disappeared... He knew he hadn't hit into a lever. Looking up into his mom's blue eyes, she was able to see the belief in his green ones.

"I know it's hard to accept, but I'll call up an old friend to take you into Diagon Alley to get your supplies." Sally said. "I'll also have you stay somewhere until the school year starts up again in September."

Percy, with a confused look evidently displayed on his face, was going to say something, but was interrupted by another shriek.

"SALLY!" The pair heard coming yet again from the inside of the house.

Sally heaved a small sigh.

"We'll talk more tonight. I promise." She said, then placed a mother's kiss on top of her son's head before returning inside.

Ψ

It wasn't until late into the night when the rain had stopped and the clouds broke to make way for the twinkle of the stars thousands and thousands of miles away. At this time Gabe had gone to bed and Sally rested gratefully on the smoke scented brown couch in the living room. Today had been more tiring than usual despite not having work.

Percy crept out from his room when he was sure he was in the clear. Gabe's obnoxious snoring could be heard echoing from all the walls in the house.

"Mom?" He called out when he saw his mother's figure sitting on the couch.

Sally opened her eyes to see her son standing only a little behind her. She patted the seat next to her.

"Come, sit." She said with exhaustion laced in every word, every breath.

When Percy did sit he tried not to gag on the overwhelming scent of cigarettes. There was a faint trace of a stain where he sat, probably from spilled beer. Gabe had really left his mark on everything.

"You said that we would talk."

With a small nod she began, "Yes I did."

The way she trailed slightly at the end indicated there was more to say. Percy knew his mother too well not to catch this. Sally knew her son too well to know he didn't miss it.

"What is it?" Percy asked carefully.

"I only know so much, which is not a lot." It sounded a little like a surrender, but what she was surrendering too, Percy did not know.

"You said something about Diagon Alley? And spending the rest of the summer somewhere else?"

Sally gave her son a shake of her head.

"Let's not start there. I need to explain some things first."

"Okay." He said looking down. Still he tugged at his sleeve in a nervous manner.

"In this world there's another world, the wizarding world."

"With witches and stuff, right?"

"Yes, with witches and stuff." Sally laughed lightly. "There's also schools to teach young wizards, like yourself, and witches the different aspects of being a wizard. I don't know much about these schools, though Hogwarts is one and that you are not allowed to magic outside of school until you are of age."

Percy gulped. Would he get in trouble for the aquarium? The candles? He hadn't even started school and already he did something to screw up.

"Percy, there's something else..." Sally looked terribly nervous. Percy saw the way she was biting her lip and picking at the skin around her thumb.

A fragile silence fell between the two. One wrong word and everything would shatter into sharp shards of broken glass.

"It has to do a little bit with your father again."

Percy's insides grew hot as a raging forest fire. His lips drew themselves into a thin white line. His jaw clenched tighter than he knew possible, tight enough to cause an almost overwhelming sense of pain. He did nothing to loosen this. Still he did not cry out in rage as he did previously. The sight of him was almost frightening, an eleven year should not be capable of such a controlled form of anger.

"He's not my father, he abandoned us." He said eerily calm with only a trace of bitterness.

"Percy, please. I'm trying to explain to you." Sally tried to catch her son's gaze, but he wouldn't allow himself to look at her.

"I don't need explaining to know he's not here."

"You have to understand, Percy. Not all wizards are good." Sally's voice was growing weary, she only wanted to help her son understand.

When silence responded to her, she just continued. "Poseidon, your father, he's a very powerful wizard. He works in the Ministry of Magic, a very high place to work indeed."

Percy finally snapped, if just a little. Hotly he said, "I don't need to know of his success!"

His breaths started to come a little too fast, a little too ragged. Sally placed a calming hand on her son's shaking, tense shoulder.

"Him and other wizards have helped to bring down some of the darkest wizards, but there are still others. They hate your father. If they were to ever know of you or your parentage..." Her voice broke. She couldn't imagine her son anyway but living.

Percy's breath started to even out a little more. In a quiet voice, almost as small as a whisper, he said, "So he really was just protecting us?"

"Yes."

"But what is 'Diagon Alley'? And you were talking about sending me away before school." Percy's eyebrows knitted in perplex.

"Diagon Alley is in the wizard world, it's where you'll get all your supplies. As for sending you away... Well you have to understand it's not going to be safe for you to be here with your powers developing. Especially with Gabe around."

Percy was about to point out that it wasn't safe with Gabe around period, but thought better of it. Instead he asked, "Where would I go?"

"I'm going to call up a friend. Chiron."

ψ

An hour later Percy had his bag packed and was waiting by the front door to be picked up and leave his mom until the next summer.

"Are you sure I can't come home for Christmas?" Percy looked at his mom pleadingly.

Sally just sadly shook her head, "No, Percy. I'll have everything sorted out by summer, but if Gabe's still here you know you can't."

Percy glumly nodded his head. He understood. He really did, but that didn't make it any less disheartening.

The minutes ticked by filled with only mundane idle talk. It was nearly one in the morning when a hesitant knock came from the door.

Before he opened the door, Percy looked back at his mother.

"Do I really have to go right now? Why can't I just wait till the end of summer?" Percy asked desperately, after all he was just a kid.

Sally gave him a look filled with love only a mother could give.

"You know it would end bad if you did."

Another knock came and this time Percy did open the door. In front of them stood a boy about a year older than Percy himself. He had a hint of a scraggly beard on his chin. He wore green robes and a... Rasta hat? Brown, wild curls poked out from underneath the cap.

"Hi," The boy said nervously.

Sally gave him a confused look.

"I'm sorry," She said. "But we were expecting someone else."

"Oh!" The boy exclaimed as if he just remembered something. "I'm Grover. Grover Underwood. I'll be in my second year at Hogwarts this year."

Sally didn't look any less confused.

"That's nice..." She said unsure.

"Oh!" Grover exclaimed again. "I came in place of Chiron. Since it was such a short notice call he wasn't available." He then looked right at Percy. "I'm guessing you're who I came for?"

Percy replied with a nod.

"Well we better get going then! We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow and we'll need all the rest we can get." Grover exclaimed enthusiastically.

Percy turned to his mom to give her a hug.

"I guess I'll see you at the end of the year." Percy croaked.

"It'll be different next year. I promise." Sally replied, hugging him even tighter.

"I'm ready." Percy said, turning to Grover.

With that the two young wizard began their walk down Percy's street and to the train station. It was a short walk, but felt like an eternity. In just one night Percy's life had been flipped inside out. He hardly noticed Grover's babble about enchiladas.

CHAPTER 3

Tomorrow seemed to come in a heartbeat for Percy. He wasn't sure where he was, only that he'd be staying at the peculiar place until September 1st.

The place was creaky. Dark wooden floors covered what appeared to be an inn. All of the walls were painted a chilly, stone gray that caused a weariness most commonly seen on a retired soldier. A musty old smell, such as the one of ancient books filled the place with a surprisingly pleasant aroma. The whole building seemed to have relaxed itself into a slumped position on top of the hill it was founded on.

Yet strangest of all was the clientele. People in purple, pink, and green robes sat at uneven tables. Women and men in pointed hats could be found drinking mugs of a particular frothy drink.

In the dark, dewy inn Percy couldn't help but feel something so utterly whimsical that being a wizard didn't seem like such an absurd idea anymore. Grover stayed in a room opposite of him and woke him up just as the sky was sparking reds and yellows.

"Uhhhh..." Percy groaned as the older boy shook him awake.

"Come on, Percy. We've got a lot to do today." Grover whined, shaking Percy harder.

"Five more minutes, mom." Percy mumbled as he buried his face into the lumpy pillow and snuggled further down into the quilt.

Grover laughed in response. It was strange, almost like a goat's bleat. That was when Percy realized his mistake, his mom definitely did not bleat.

Bleary eyed, Percy turned on his side to see the same curly haired boy who had been at his front door just last night. Grover didn't even pretend to not notice the disappointment in Percy's eyes.

"I know I'm not your mom and that you're probably missing her, but we really do have a lot to do today." Grover said a little bit nervously.

Sensing Grover's anxiousness, Percy slowly got out of the bed. It was the least he could do.

Grover sighed in relief. He had already started to worry about not being able to get everything done today. It was already dangerous as it was having Percy going freely into the wizard world, but if they had to do it twice... Well Grover already knew what happened to the children of powerful wizards and Percy was a clear relative of Poseidon.

"I'll just leave you to get ready." Grover said somewhat awkwardly before leaving the room, now bathed in the early rays of sunlight.

Percy glanced around the room looking for the suitcase packed with his clothes, toothbrush, and blue plastic hairbrush before remembering he had put it under the bed the night before.

Tugging the brown thing by its worn out leather handle, Percy brought it out into the daylight and unlatched it open.

Inside he pulled out a basic green tee and a pair of fading blue jeans. Taking off the nights previous clothes, he found the new ones refreshing and a soft reminder of home.

Home.

He wouldn't be there again until next summer. It'd be his first Christmas without his mom. His first Christmas not making cookies in their cramped kitchen. His first mother's day without bringing his mom flowers or making her a card in school.

As he pulled on his sneakers, he brushed a stray tear from his face. So much had happened in the past twenty four hours that it all became a little too overwhelming.

Not realizing that quite a bit of time had past, he was surprised to hear a knock at his door and a muffled voice shortly followed.

"Percy, it's been twenty minutes. Are you almost done?" Grover asked from outside of the room.

"Yea, just a minute." Percy shouted back.

He raced to brush his teeth in the bathroom conjoined to his bedroom and tried, ineffectively to brush his hair down.

In another two minutes Percy was out the door and facing Grover. Grover eyed Percy's attire in slight distaste.

Thinking he had a stain on his shirt or something of the sorts Percy asked, "What? What is it?"

Grover shook his head.

"Nothing... You just look a little out of place." Grover replied, now eyeing the jeans.

Percy then noticed how Grover wasn't wearing normal clothes, but instead had on a funny yellow robe and a hat to match. In fact, he almost looked a little formal in the get up.

"Oh well, I'm ready to go..." Percy trailed off, suddenly conscious of just how ridiculous he looked in the old, mesmerizing inn with his much too modern attire.

Grover perked up a little and said excitedly, "Right! Off to Diagon Alley. Lots of supplies to get."

Percy, still confused as to what Diagon Alley was, followed the other boy out of the inn and through various twists and turns of roads. Percy couldn't tell you which way they had gone as he didn't so much as pay a lick of attention as to where they were going and the twists they were taking.

Like magic, the boys were now standing on a street bursting with colorful people and even more colorful shops.

He saw signs for all different stores... Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Flourish and Blotts. It was stunningly amazing, as if a page from a storybook had been brought to life. The street they were on had lived up to it's name, it truly was diagonal!

Store windows were filled with all different kinds of wacky objects and oddities. An ad was sponsoring the new Firebolt 3000. In another cauldrons were artfully displayed in beautiful rows of coppers, golds, silvers, and brass. One particular shop had a window so filled with a series of vibrant candies that Percy's mouth watered just glimpsing at it.

Grover seemed unfazed by the sight and even slightly annoyed at the others going about them. He was looking at the supply list that came with Percy's letter.

"I think we should go to Ollivanders first." Grover said looking at Percy.

"Ollivanders?"

"To get your wand." Grover said it like it was the simplest and obvious thing in the world.

"Right..." This magical nonsense was starting to give Percy a headache.

"Follow me. I'll take you there." Grover beckoned Percy with a motion of his hand.

A few minutes later and lots of shoving past people, the two boys arrived in front of a narrow, shabby shop. Nothing appeared to be significant about it except a faded gold sign reading "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

"This is the best place to get your wand. I got mine here." Grover said with a smile, before pulling out what appeared to be a wooden stick

Percy saw that the wand was made of a lighter shade of wood with an intricate design on it. Grover beamed at it as if it was made of solid gold and encrusted with diamonds.

"Chestnut wood, eleven inches, unicorn hair." Grover said proudly.

Percy scrunched his eyebrows together, unsure what Grover was talking about.

"My wand." Grover said as if that explained everything.

Seeing Percy's still perplexed face, Grover elaborated.

"You see," Grover started. "Every wand is made with a different wood and core, and are different lengths. The wood types very all over the place from apple to oak to elm. Then there's the core of the wand, which is generally unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, or more uncommonly phoenix feather."

"Oh...okay." Percy nodded as if he understood all of what was just said.

Grover nudged Percy towards the rickety door.

"Well go on." He said with a hardly contained grin.

What was so great about getting a wand? It wasn't as if Percy had won the lottery and was now collecting his millions.

"You're not going with me?" Percy teetered on his feet, shifting his weight back and forth.

Grover shook his head.

"Nope. I'm going to get you your books. It might take you a while in there."

"Oh, well thanks. I guess."

"Yea of course. I'll meet you back here when I'm done."

Grover headed down the twisted street. Before he could get far, Percy shouted out to him.

"Wait!" He said.

Grover turned his head around, to see what was wrong. Percy's face had tinted itself a delicate shade of pink and his hands were shoved into his front pockets.

"I... uh..." Percy stammered as he face turned a bright shade of red.

"Yes?"

"I don't have any money." Percy mumbled almost inaudibly.

Grover bleated.

"Hey! Don't laugh. It's not funny!" Percy fumed, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive position.

Grover walked over to the red faced, inked hair boy.

"No, no. That's not what I meant by it." Grover said with a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"Well it sure sounded it." Percy said tersely, arms still crossed in front of his body.

"No, really. Your money wouldn't do squat here."

Percy's confusion deepened.

"Here." Grover said handing Percy a fistful of metal coins.

Hesitantly taking the strange coins, Percy asked, "What are these?"

"Money!" Grover said with that same grin, but no longer as stupid than it was friendly.

Percy started to think that Grover was a real loon.

"See, these ones," Grover said pointing to a sparse few gold coins. "They're called galleons. They're the most valuable."

Percy nodded, understanding a slight more.

"And these," Grover continued, now pointing to the silver coins. "These ones are sickles. 17 sickles make one galleon.

"And the bronze ones are knuts. Knuts are the least valuable. Twenty-nine of them make one sickle and 493 make one galleon."

"Um, Grover." Percy said.

"Yea?"

"How am I gonna pay you back?" Percy's face started to pale instead of reddening this time.

Grover dismally waved a hand and said, "Don't worry about it. Professor Chiron gave all this to me to help you buy your school stuff. I mean, we weren't exactly expecting you to have just a bunch of galleons on hand." Grover finished with a light chuckle.

"Oh, thanks." Percy shot him a sheepish grin.

"Well I better be off then!" Grover said waving good bye and continuing on his previous path.

Percy was left all alone now. Sure, there was the occasional person dressed in indigo that passed by the small shop, but there was no one truly with Percy. He heaved a breath then made his way towards the door.

Upon opening the door, a chilled breeze came from inside the shop and swept over Percy, messing his hair even more. The room he stood in was brimming with narrow boxes set everywhere and anywhere. It appeared that there was thousands and thousands of these boxes. The only thing that there was more of than the boxes was dust. Dust seemed to coat the store like a finish on a wooden table. Percy himself could feel the dust already starting to cover him.

A person of tall height stood behind a teetering desk, back facing towards Percy. He could see that the person was most likely a woman. She had long, billowing hair that shimmered in the small waves of light coming from the windows. It was dark, dark hair the color of ebony and blacker than the deepest depths of the ocean.

On her she wore a fantasizing white robe, webbed with silver designs. Percy suspected she was a very attractive lady.

"Hello." The woman said in a surprisingly scratchy voice.

Her voice sounded almost as old as the inn Percy was staying at. It did nothing, but create an unease in the pit of his stomach. This woman was not what she looked like.

"Hi. I'm here to get a wand." Percy said innocently enough.

The dark haired woman turned herself around. Percy could now see her face.

Her skin was as pale as death and looked as if all warmth had been drained from it. Her eyes were the color of coal, not allowing her pupil to be easily seen. Her lips were a surprising pink. They were light as a fresh spring blossom.

"Oh, are you?" She sneered in her horrid scratchy voice.

Now, Percy was feeling impatient. It'd been a long night and even longer day. He barely remembered the difference between a knut and a sickle and he still was trying to comprehend that magic existed. He didn't have the patience for this rudeness.

"Just let me get a wand so I can get out of here." He snapped at the woman.

But now she was no longer dark haired or even wearing white robes. Now the lady had honey blonde hair, set in a ponytail and wore a sleeves black gown that pooled off her like ink. The only thing that remained were her soft pink lips, dark eyes, and that unsettling pale skin.

The woman smirked as Percy blinked to see if he was seeing right. Unfortunately, he was. Had he just imagined the black hair and white robe? No, he was positive that's what she looked like when he walked in. Was it a different woman? No, that color skin could not belong to anyone else.

"Now, child," She said almost sinister, voice echoing off of itself. "Weren't you taught to respect your elders?"

Although she gave off a frightening aura, Percy didn't so much as feel a little shaken. He was now just more annoyed.

"Cut with the crap and give me a wand." Percy said, walking over to a spindly chair in front of the desk and sat down.

Rage flashed in her black irises, but quickly vanished.

"One moment, please." She said icily cool.

The woman walked carefully around the shop inspecting all of the narrow boxes before choosing one. In it she pulled out what must have been a wand. The wood of this wand was dark like the lady's hair when Percy had walked in. It was big contrast to Grover's light wooded wand.

She walked over to Percy, still sitting in the chair.

"Here try this." She said handing the stick over to Percy.

He felt that it had lots of bumps near the top and was perfectly smooth at the bottom. There were no intricate patterns as there had been on Grover's chestnut wand.

"What do I do with it?" Percy asked, holding the wand still in his hand.

The woman sighed, clearly irked by the boy's ignorance.

"Just give it a wave."

So Percy did. It sent dozens of boxes across the room and into the wall.

Hecate shook her head.

"Blackthorn is not for you. It was close though." She said taking the wand back and looking for another one to give Percy.

This time she gave Percy a wand that was a lighter shade than the first. It was slightly longer with whorls and swirls going down it.

Percy felt a tingling warmth as he held it. A slow smiled crept onto the woman's face.

"Give it a wave." She said in command.

He did. This time the boxes of wands gently eased themselves back into their previous places.

A huge grin transformed itself onto Percy's face. He had done magic. Actual real life magic.

"What kind of wand is it?" Percy asked, looking expectantly at the shop's owner.

"Cypress, a dragon heartstring core, 11 and ¾ inches." She stated

He noticed that the woman was looking at him curiously.

"What?" He asked, suddenly nervous.

"It is said that a wizard or witch owning a cypress wand will die a heroic death. These wands like people who are bold and brave, self-sacrificing."

"That doesn't sound bad." Percy said, but then why was he suddenly so stricken with fear?

"And dragon heartstring," The lady continued. "Can be very powerful. Although, it can be easily turned to the Dark Arts."

Her voice sent shivers all the way down Percy's spine.

"With a wand like that," She said, each syllable a dagger on Percy. "I'd be very careful, Percy Jackson." The woman shrieked at him.

Her hair was once again the long, dark one Percy had seen first. She wore her white robes. And in her eyes was something unrecognizable. Not hatred. Not evilness. It was far scarier than that.

Percy leaped from his chair.

"How do you know my name?!" He demanded.

The woman cackled. She came close to Percy's face. He could now see where her pupil was and that her eyes were a dark brown, not black.

"That does not matter." She hissed at him. "Be careful young wizard. You're going to face a great evil in your time."

"Who are you?" Percy shook the words out of him.

"Hecate Ollivander." The woman said pulling herself away from the boy. "I'd advise you to remember my name, I will be more of a friend to you than most. Now go!"

Percy didn't have to be told twice. He went out of the shop with his wand, not even bothering to pay for it.

The sunlight nearly blinded him. He hadn't realized it was so dark in the wand shop.

The events of the previous minutes flashed rapidly in his mind. What had happened in there? How did Hecate know his name?

Sighing in a bit of defeat, Percy slumped against the building and waited for Grover to arrive once more.

CHAPTER 4

The next days passed dully. After the trip to Diagon Alley, Grover had forced Percy to stay inside at the inn for his remaining time.

Percy didn't tell Grover of his experience at Ollivanders wand shop. If he did, he suspected that he wouldn't be leaving anywhere anytime soon, least of all the inn.

In his time before school started, Percy had made friends with the inn keeper, Pia Plumington. She was a short and plump woman with graying hair and rosy cheeks. Her face always bore a cherry red smile and her hair was always put out of her face in a bun. Percy found her very grandmotherly. He never had a grandmother.

She spoke in a high, sweet voice, but could make demands like no other. The few workers at the inn held her at a high respect and loved her dearly, as if she was their own family.

Percy had learned a great deal about Pia Plumington as she loved to talk. She told him of stories from when she was young and first tried to fly on a broomstick before falling face first into the mud. She told him how she too went to Hogwarts and was a prefect for the Hufflepuff house. Most of what she told Percy was gibberish to him, yet he couldn't help feeling content by the nonsensical tales.

Tonight was the last night Percy would be staying at the inn. The next day him and Grover were to board on a train at Kings Cross Station to get to the school. Percy swore Grover had said they'd need to go to platform 9 ¾ but such a thing didn't exist. Or so Percy believed.

Pia Plumington sat at one of the inn's tables, Percy on the opposite side of her. She passed him a ceramic mug filled to the brim with steaming hot chocolate.

The scent of the piping drink wafted its richness into Percy's nostrils. Just the look of the drink created a pleasant warmth of home in him that he hadn't felt since he left his mother.

"Thanks." He said, sliding the mug over to him.

"Anytime, dear." Pia Plumington said affectionately.

Percy took a cautious sip of the drink, unsure if it had cooled down enough. The heat bit his tongue in a burn, but did nothing to ruin the taste of the creamy drink. It tasted like a campfire would feel. Comforting.

"What house do you think you'll end up in, dear?" Pia Plumington asked politely, clasping her hands together on the table.

"Houses?" Percy asked, wiping away a bit of his drink from his upper lip.

Pia Plumington chuckled to herself.

"Oh, I always forget! You were raised in the muggle world." Her pale, aging eyes sparkled in amusement.

The word "muggle" baffled Percy, but didn't keep him from conversing.

"What are the houses you were talking about?" Percy asked, taking yet another sip of the hot chocolate.

"Oh you see, dear," Pia Plumington began. "At Hogwarts all of the students are sorted into one of four houses based on the founders of Hogwarts. Each house values different traits of character. There's Gryffindor, the bold and chivalrous. Then there's Hufflepuff, the house I was in. Hufflepuffs value hard work and loyalty." She gave a proud smile as she mentioned Hufflepuff.

Percy felt this house fit Pia Plumington perfectly. The only other person he knew that worked as hard as her was his mother, Sally Jackson. Maybe Sally would have been a Hufflepuff.

"Also, Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw is for those who value intelligence, creativity, and wit."

Percy didn't believe he'd ever be in Ravenclaw. He was constantly reminded by Gabe just how dumb he was. He might have been smarter if it wasn't for his stupid dyslexia and ADHD.

"The fourth house now," Pia's face had gone a little darker, a little more grim. "The fourth house is Slytherin. The house for those who value cunning and ambition."

Why had her cheery little voice given out into something more serious?

"You say Slytherin as if it was bad thing." Percy stated.

Pia looked hesitant to respond, weighing her options.

"Well there is a bit of a coincidence that many Slytherins turn to the Dark Arts." Pia's face grew almost fearful.

"So Slytherins are the bad guys?"

"Oh no! Slytherins are most certainly not bad. Merlin himself was put into the Slytherin house. In fact my husband, Peter Plumington, had most of his family in Slytherin and they were all very kind." Pia hurriedly said.

Percy never knew the inn keeper had a husband.

"But you said many turn to the Dark Arts." Percy said, feeling as though Pia was contradicting herself.

"You have to remember, Percy, that with valuing a trait such as ambition comes a grave need to succeed. The Dark Arts are a cheap and evil way to further one in this world. It is one of the many reasons why a person who is in Slytherin is much more susceptible to these ways. Though that does not make them all bad. They're just more likely to turn bad."

With the way Pia described the Slytherin house he could not imagine that someone nice would be put in there. They seemed deceitful and untrustworthy. Although, it did make him a little uncomfortable that such prejudice was held against a house with only kids in it. How bad could a group of kids be?

"I think that's enough talk about Hogwarts for the night." Pia said, ending the discussion. "After all I'm sure you'll be able to find out more if you read those books your friend got you." Pia gave Percy a pointed look like the one his mother gave him when he tried to sneak a cookie before dinner.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yea, I probably should read those books a little before school starts." He grinned sheepishly.

"And you've got so much time to do that." Pia said sarcastically before chuckling in a good humored way.

The rest of the night Percy spent talking with Pia Plumington. She taught him a few more things of the wizard world that Grover had yet to inform him on and he told her stories of growing up with his mom. It was a nice and uneventful evening, even despite the part where Percy spilled his drink accidentally onto Pia's lilac robes.

Ψ

Percy once again was woken up by Grover. The golden rays of the sun streamed into his room as Grover pulled back the dusty, deep colored purple curtain. Percy groaned into his pillow, upset at his loss of sleep.

"It's so early." Percy complained.

"Come on! Get up!" Grover's voice was high and childish and Percy knew without even looking that a gleeful grin was plastered on his face.

Percy grunted in sleepy protest, but got up anyway. Despite it being summer the floors were icy cold and chilled Percy from the bottoms of his feet to the top of his head. He'd miss this peculiar place and it's jolly owner.

He rubbed his eyes, desperately trying to get the tired feeling out of himself. Meanwhile, Grover looked like a kid that ransacked a candy store.

"Why are you so happy to be up so early?"

"We're going to Hogwarts today, Percy!" Grover let out a cheerful bleat.

"Ah yes, school." Percy snorted sarcastically.

Grover shook his head in amusement.

"You'll like this school."

"Yea well I can't like it if I don't get there. Now get out." Percy shooed away Grover in the same silly amusement as Grover had shaken his head.

Quickly as possible, Percy got dressed and ready. He didn't even bother to try and brush his hair. It would only ever be a hopeless cause to tame that atrocious mess.

Before exiting the small, cozy room he grabbed the beaten up suitcase from under the rickety bed. It barely held itself together after years and years of use, but Percy couldn't help love it. It was a simple reminder of home and his mom. His mom who worked so hard, yet couldn't even afford a new suitcase.

He breathed a sigh. It'd only been a few days since he left and and he was already homesick. It was ridiculous really, he'd been to boarding schools countless ties before. He shouldn't be aching for home this much already.

Stepping out into the hallway, Percy met Grover with a grin.

"I'm all ready."

"Great!" The older boy replied.

When the two boys arrived down stairs, Pia Plumington was there waiting to bid farewell.

She took Percy into a spine crushing hug. It was slightly awkward, Percy being a good five inches taller than the older woman.

"I'm going to miss you, dear." She said warmly with a smile traced with only the slightest of sadness. "You better visit me, boy." She said, faking a threatening voice.

Percy laughed.

"Of course I will."

And he meant it too. Pia Plumington had provided him with a maternal figure that he had been missing for the past few days. She was terribly kind to him.

"Now you get on, you two." Pia said gently pushing the boys out of the wooden doorway. "Don't want to miss that train, now do we?"

Percy and Grover waved goodbye to the woman. Her baby blue robes faded into the distance as they made their way further and further from the shabby inn.

The departure was so similar to the one just a short while ago. It had the same essence of sadness intertwined with the excitement of the unknown and soon to be found out. Saying goodbye was always a hard thing when a person became important to you. Especially if the importance came from giving care and showing kindness.

Ψ

Kings Cross Station had less people than usual. It was usually bustling about with people wanting or needing to get here or there. Hardly ever was it so quiet and empty.

"Alright, of to Platform 9 ¾!" Grover said with a rush.

"Um, Grover?" Percy said cautiously, trying to keep up with Grover's almost running pace.

Grover stopped, too sudden and abrupt for Percy not to run into him. He mumbled an apology to the older boy.

"Yea?" Grover asked after telling Percy not to worry about running into him.

"There's no such thing as Platform 9 ¾." Percy blurted bluntly.

Grover gave that strange bleat of his.

He shook his head and humorously said what sounded oddly like "muggles".

"There's a Platform 9 ¾, trust me." Grover told Percy.

Not wanting to argue, Percy simply followed Grover.

That was his mistake. They arrived at a brick wall between platforms nine and ten. The wall was clearly solid, but Grover was looking at it expectantly. Percy knew magic was a thing. After all he had a wand in his suitcase to prove the point.

The wand... He really should tell Grover what happened at Ollivanders Wand Shop. The lady there knew his name and said things that didn't seem normal, even for the wizarding world.

Out of his thoughts, Percy heard Grover talking to him.

"So like I said. Just run right through it." Grover finished.

"Run right through it?" What was Grover even talking about?

Grover sighed tiredly.

"You zoned out, didn't you?"

In response, Percy gave a small smile and rubbed the back of his neck. Oh well he zoned out. He had ADHD, it wasn't like he had tried to ignore what Grover was saying. But then again, he didn't try to listen either.

"So what do I have to do?" Percy asked.

Grover pointed to the wall.

"Run right through there."

Percy eyed Grover suspiciously. It was one thing for a Platform 9 ¾ to exist. It was a whole other thing that to get there he had to run into a brick wall.

"Here, I'll show you." Grover said before taking off.

Right when Percy was expecting to hear a sickening sound of his head hitting the bricks, Grover disappeared. Just like that he was gone. He had run through a brick wall. A brick wall. These wizard things were way too weird.

Percy shrugged to himself. Why couldn't he run through a brick wall? He began running, sneakers gripping the floor. He was proud to say that he'd only hesitated a little when nearing the wall.

Then he was there. On the other side of the wall. At Platform 9 ¾. It was a miracle really. Grover stood there with yet another grin on his face.

Percy saw lots of other people too. A family with a girl about his age stood off to his right. The daughter had long blonde hair, curled like a princess. Her mom was a scary sight. She was a witch with perfect posture, impeccable gray robes, and shiny brown hair held tightly in a bun. The dad was only slightly less intimidating with the same blonde hair as the young girl.

The girl stood proudly. Her demeanor was parallel to her mother's. Not even a single crease was in her navy blue robes. Percy thought he wouldn't like it too much if they were in the same house. She didn't look the type to put up with him or his trouble making tendencies. Even if those tendencies were all accidental.

"Let's go, Percy." Grover said, tugging Percy onto the train.

As they boarded the train Percy took notice that everyone had their luggage and an animal with them. There were owls, frogs, and cats. Was Percy supposed to get an animal? He vaguely remembered something like that being on the supply list. And all the bags everyone had... Percy only had his ratty old suitcase. Grover had told him a house elf (whatever that was) had already taken all his books and other things to Hogwarts already. To minimize problems, whatever that meant.

They both sat down in an empty cart and Grover handed him something made of black cloth.

"Here put this on. I forgot I sent all yours to be held with Professor Chiron until you got to school". Grover told Percy.

It was the robes that all the witches and wizards wore. Percy had gotten fitted for his, but these didn't fit quite as nicely. They weren't bad though and he appreciated Grover lending them to him for the time being.

"Thanks."

"Oh! I almost forgot!." Grover exclaimed, leaping from his seat.

The older boy ran down the aisle. When he returned he held in his hands a cage with a cream colored tarp over it. Percy swore he heard a hoot coming from the cage.

"It's a gift." Grover said, adding hesitantly, "From your father."

Percy was reluctant to take the cage and whatever was inside. He stomach turned in repulse from accepting a gift from the same person that abandoned not only him, but his mother too.

But... Percy couldn't deny that he felt a sense of affection that his father had thought enough of him to give him a gift. He'd never had gifts before that weren't for a holiday and when he did they were very small. Nothing that could be put in a cage.

After the small battle in his mind on whether to take the present or not, Percy slowly took the cage and put on his lap.

His heart pumped in anticipation. His fingers tingled with curiosity. Another hoot came from the cage. No way did his father get him an owl. It'd be too good to be true.

Percy lifted the tarp off the cage and tossed it haphazardly to the ground. Inside was the most beautiful creature his green eyes had ever seen.

Sleek, inky black feathers encased the owl's medium built body. They gleamed in the light, displaying small rainbows in each one. Her eyes were dark as the night sky and twinkled like the stars themselves. She looked absolutely soft and silky.

Percy brought out his hand to pet the owl. She nudged his hand with her head and made a sound of content affection. She was more than he could wish for.

"She's beautiful." Percy said, still in a stunned awe.

"What are you going to name her?" Grover asked also staring at the dark beauty.

Percy took in her color. The way all the different shades of black meshed together from her beak to her feathers to the talons she used to perch herself.

"Blackjack." He said with finality.

It was a suiting name for the owl.

"She'll carry letters for you. Like a postman." Grover told Percy.

Percy nodded and put the cage on the floor.

During the time between receiving the owl and then naming her, the train had left the station at Platform 9 ¾. Kids had bid farewell to family and friends through the windows and settled down with others they knew. Percy was more than appreciative that Grover stayed with him even though he was a year younger and Grover probably had friends he would've rather sat with.

"So Professor Chiron, you talk about him a lot. Is he the headmaster?" Percy asked.

Grover laughed for a good two minutes. Percy could feel his cheeks warm and reddening from embarrassment. What had been so funny about the question?

When he was done laughing Grover told Percy, "No. Professor Chiron is the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Professor Dionysus is the headmaster. And probably the worst one yet." Grover snorted.

The two boys spent most of the time talking. Percy asked questions and Grover explained. Grover provided a great deal of new information to Percy. He wasn't sure that he'd remember it all.

Soon a lady came to where they were sitting with a candy trolley. She asked the boys if they would like to purchase anything.

Grover politely declined, but Percy's mouth was watering at the sight of all the sugar made products. He reached into his pocket and felt that he still had the money that was meant for the wand. It was seven galleons, surely that would be enough to buy a few treats.

"What do you have?" Percy asked.

The lady rattled off various names of various candies. Not wanting to spend a lot, Percy asked for two chocolate frogs and a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Percy handed the lady (hopefully) the correct amount of money. She started off down the aisle again and Percy handed Grover one of the chocolate frogs.

"Thanks!" The older boy said.

Together they unwrapped their candy and ate together like old friends would.

Once their candy was gone both of them were exhausted from the day and previous days. It was no surprise to Percy that the boys fell asleep.

Ψ

Percy was awoken by a rapping on the door to his and Grover's cart. Blackjack gave a hoot of disgruntled disgust from being woken from her own slumber.

Standing there was the girl he had previously seen with her parents at Platform 9 ¾. She was now wearing black robes like everyone else and her blonde princess curls were frizzing. There was also an obvious scowl on her face.

It appeared they had arrived at Hogwarts. The girl's striking gray eyes pierced into him like the sharp blade of a sword. What was her problem? It's not like he did anything to her.

The girl's gaze softened a fraction when she saw Grover also waking up from his nap.

Percy was expecting her to say something such as "We're here" or maybe "You need to get up, we've arrived to school."

But instead the scowling girl said directed to Percy, "You drool when you sleep."

She walked off down the aisle, robes swishing behind her.

Percy stared at her incredulously, but stood up anyways and collected his suitcase and new pet.

CHAPTER 5

The castle was pure brilliancy. The image of magic was encompassed in every aspect from the stone walls to the lake to the eerie, dark forest lying on the edges of the grounds.

Percy had arrived there on boat with the rest of the first years. He was upset to have to leave Grover, but the older boy assured him they'd see each other soon enough.

A boy with ashy brown hair and a permanent mischievous smirk sat across from him on the boat. His smirk was the kind that made you want to double check your belongings.

A girl with plaited, dry hair falling all the way down to her waist sat beside the impish boy. Bangs covered her forehead, clearly needing a cut as she was constantly moving them from out of view of her eyes. Those same earth colored eyes were pointed in annoyance at the boy, but their gaze did not reach Percy. Percy decided she was not a person to push buttons with, even in the slightest. Already her temper radiated off of her like light from the sun.

Soon enough the kids were standing in the largest dining hall Percy had ever seen. Floating candles shed light into the grand room. At the head of the hall a stool was set it up. He wondered what that was for.

There were four very long table each decorated in different colors. Students obviously older than Percy and the other first years were already seated at these tables wearing pointed hats and ties the same colors as their respected table was decorated with.

Percy looked up to see the ceiling reflected the sky outside. It was dusk and the ceiling bore just a few wisps of pinks and purples in the darkening blue. The hall was more mesmerizing than even the outside of the castle.

At the front of the hall was an elegant table sitting what appeared to be the Hogwarts professors. At the head of the table sat a regal throne looking seat. A man with inky black curls winding on his head sat in the throne.

His outfit choice was highly questionable. The other teachers were seen wearing standard black robes are robes of subtle, dark colors such as dark grey or navy blue or even forest green. But this chubby little man with the round face of a child was clad in atrocious tiger print robes. The vibrant orange stood out like a light in the dark. It was too prominent to even try to ignore.

Did they even make tiger print robes?

A woman with shining golden hair that billowed on her shoulders came in and placed and old, tattered, brown hat on top of the stool at the head of the hall.

The man with the black hair and tiger robes lazily stood up and the buzzing of chatter in the hall died down to nothing. He held a silver goblet carelessly in his hand. His eyes were watery and brimmed with red. The man was drunk.

The man sighed in annoyance as if this was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Hello insolent children." The man said dryly.

Another man with a beard to his left gave him a look of warning.

The black haired man let out another little sigh towards the warning, but continued in slightly less irritation. If almost undetectable counted as slightly less. Still the man with the beard smiled a bit of a smug grin tha held the sens of accomplishment.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts. Or welcome to Hogwarts if you're new here." The man continued in that same dry, uncaring voice.

"It is a pleasure to have you all here." The most oblivious person would have been able to detect the sarcasm in his voice.

"I am your headmaster Dionysus. Call me Dionysus and I'll transfigure you very painfully into a dolphin." The words showed no trace of joking, sending an ice cold shiver down Percy's spine.

Professor Dionysus, probably as tall as Percy, did not seem like a threat. He was drunk and he spoke with a slight slur. But when he delivered that threat... It was clear not to underestimate him.

"Anyways you'll be sorted into a house... blah blah blah... And the sorting hat will take care of that. Professor Chiron will call your name or whatever." Professor Dionysus shrugged back into his seat and took a gulp from his goblet much too large to be respectable for a headmaster.

No wonder Grover said he's probably the worst headmaster ever. Percy would not doubt it.

Thinking of Grover, Percy glanced around the room until he found a familiar head of curly brown hair. Grover was seated with other kids at a table decorated in yellow and black. Grover wore a tie of the same colors that had not been on him on the train. Catching his eye, Percy gave hima small wave that Grover retaliated.

The man sitting to the left of Professor Dionysus did not stand up, but instead sat there politely with his chin tiled up just a little more. The professor did not have am ornate chair like the others. He must have been Professor Chiron. The same professor that was supposed to get Percy, but sent a 12 year old boy instead. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

He smiled warmly to the crowd of kids. His eyes were kind and filled with the wisdom of a person that has lived a thousands years and a thousands lives. Although, the man could not have been over middle age.

"Welcome students!" He said in a surprisingly booming voice. It was a nice booming, not angry or cocky, but booming in a more humble way as if he only wanted your attention to help you and not himself.

"We are to begin the sorting ceremony soon with our own sorting hat." He said fondly.

The kids at the tables cheered in delight.

"Let us begin with a song."

Suddenly the hat perked up and began singing. Percy was too stunned to see an inanimate object singing to actually take notice of what it was singing.

When the song was over Professor Chiron called a boy named Clovis Ardington to be sorted.

The plump boy with a head of thick blonde curls walked towards the stool with the hat. He stumbled a little in what appeared to be sleepiness as he could not contain a single of his yawns.

Once he reached the stool the hat was placed on his head by the woman that had brought it out.

It pondered on his for half a minute before shouting out "Hufflepuff!"

Percy remembered Pia Plumington was a Hufflepuff. He hoped Clovis would do the house justice.

After the first few people were sorted Percy's ADHD got the better of him. He was glancing aimlessly around the room while bouncing on the balls of his feet when a name caught his attention.

"Annabeth Chase." Professor Chiron said with a little more warmth than the other names had had.

Percy had never heard the name before, but it struck him as something important. He had no idea why.

Annabeth was a girl. She stood tall and proud with perfect posture. Her honey gold curls swept beautifully down her back. Annabeth was the one to tell Percy he drooled in his sleep.

She walked like a ballerina danced. With precision and purpose.

Percy had never seen a person sit so elegantly on a stool before.

The hat hardly even glimpsed her head when it shouted "Ravenclaw!"

She stood up with a smug grin and even straighter posture if it was possible. Annabeth already knew she was going to be in Ravenclaw and wasn't afraid to gloat about it.

Percy knew he'd never be in the house as Annabeth. Pia had said Ravenclaw was the house known for wit and intelligence. Intelligence would be the last thing Percy would identify himself with.

A few people after Annabeth had been sorted into Ravenclaw a girl with wild fiery red hair sat on the school.

Rachel Dare was her name.

Her green eyes shone with nervousness. She was so painfully obviously out of her element. Percy suspected she was muggle-born or so would Pia say.

The hat was placed on her head. It took her slightly longer than the rest of the students to be sorted. She was placed in Ravenclaw.

Percy couldn't help, but notice the absolute pure look of disgust on Annabeth's face when the red head was placed in the same house as her. He wondered why.

Ψ

Before Percy knew it his name had been called out by the professor.

Tentatively he walked to the stool. It was cooler than he thought it would be after so many kids sitting on it. He felt the leather hat placed on his head, also cooler than he thought it would be.

The most surprising thing though was when the hat talked to him, seeming to respond to his thoughts. Did it do that to the other kids?

"You do not think you will be a Ravenclaw, Percy?" it said.

Startled for only a second, Percy regained his composure and let out a snort.

"The day I get into the house known for intelligence is the day pigs fly." he replied to the hat.

"It is not as impossible as you think." The hat continued, "You are not as dumb as you think Perseus Jackson. You are cunning."

The way the hat said his name chilled him to the bone. No one ever called him by his full name like that. Not even his own mother.

"You are also brave." The hat told Percy.

Percy noticed he'd been at the stool longer than anyone else had.

"Cunning, brash, and brave. Loyal to a fault, but only to those that matter to you. You are deceitful sometimes you do not even recognize this. You value so much." The way the hat analyzed Percy like this was terrible. It knew him in ways it shouldn't.

"What house am I in? Can you please tell me already?" Percy tried to voice annoyance, but his small words quivered at the end.

"Ah, that is the question."

Percy sat there for a few other minutes. He heard whispers of hat stall. The longest one ever. He started to understand this wasn't normal.

Finally after what felt like an eternity plus another 1000 years the hat called out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Percy noticed not as many people cheered for him as they did for other people in other houses. Shrugging it off he made his way to the table dressed in emerald green and silver.

Taking a seat next to a boy with blonde hair and a nasty scar running down his face, Percy gave a small hello. Honestly, he just wanted to go unnoticed.

The boy he was sitting next to turned to him with a smile and offered his hand in greeting. Percy shook it and noticed the boy's eyes were blue like water.

"I'm Luke. Luke Castellan, seventh year prefect." The boy introduced himself.

"Percy Jackson." Percy mumbled.

The sandy haired boy threw his head back in laughter.

"I know who you are!" The grin on his face was immeasurable. "Longest hat stall in history they're saying! Well, I'm just glad they sorted you into Slytherin. Best house there is!"

Percy gave him an almost equal grin. It was nice to feel welcomed.

Another person turned to introduce themselves to Percy. This time it was girl with black hair worthy of a model and warm chocolate brown eyes.

Her hand was small and delicate in Percy's despite her being obviously older. Her handshake was surprisingly firm and strong. She wasn't someone to underestimate he decided.

"Silena Beauregard. Fifth year prefect." She smiled kindly at him.

Percy felt he could make great friends in this house. Although... he thought of Grover in Hufflepuff. Would their short friendship maintain? Percy certainly hoped so.

Soon the table was joined by the mischievous boy Percy arrived with. Somehow the house seemed a perfect fit for the boy.

"Travis Stoll." The boy said in a voice high for a boy.

Even his last name fit the boy flawlessly.

Ψ

"Alright newbies, follow me!" Luke said gleefully, leading the first years to their dorms and common room.

The castle was designed like a maze. Corridors twisted and turned randomly. Staircases moved against your will. It was like the castle wanted all of the students to get lost. The teachers could have at least provided the first years with a map.

Luke led them down a stairwell, explaining their common room was in the dungeon.

Percy didn't like it at all where they were going. He felt claustrophobic. His heart raced a little too fast and he had to force himself to swallow.

A hand wove itself into his own sweaty one. Silena was standing beside him, a gentle small smile on her face.

She gave his hand a squeeze.

"It's alright." She said soothingly.

Percy nodded. He felt his cheeks warming. How embarrassing was it to need someone to hold your hand just to walk somewhere?

The group stopped at a metal door. Green tinted lamps were hung up at each side, casting an almost sinister glow in the already dark pathway.

"Here we are!" Luke's cheery voice sounded so wrongfully out of place in the dank area.

Luke continued, "Now to get into the common room you have to know the password which will change weekly to prevent intruders. This weeks password is 'Nox Imperial'. If you forget don't hesitate to ask one of your housemates. Any questions and come to me or other prefects!"

The group entered the common room. Only one word could describe the place. Dark. There were dark leather sofas, dark wooden cupboards, skulls. Yet there was also some beauty. Tapestries that were so accurate and intricate they could be photographs hung on the walls depicting adventures and tales of other wizards. And the kids in the house. They were all so close. They were like a family.

"Why don't you guys take your stuff and get settled into your rooms before tomorrow." Silena suggested.

The group dispersed into the rooms and unpacked their belongings. Percy's bed was by Travis. He wasn't so sure that would be a good thing.

Ψ

The first day went well enough if you didn't include the part where Percy got lost to almost every single class.

Slytherins had classes with Ravenclaws and Percy started to take a disliking to Annabeth. She was snobbish, thinking she was smarter and better than even the others in her house. Her hand was raised for every question that was prompted and she never failed to give the correct answer.

That is until the classes that actual magic was used.

Percy was unfortunately seated by her in almost every class.

In Charms Percy learned Annabeth didn't handle someone being equal in skill to her well.

"You know," She started to say towards Percy.

He knew she was going to brag about something. She took pride on her intellect and loved to rub it in his face, even more once she learned his marks were poor and he was in Slytherin. Thought she didn't know he had dyslexia and could barely read teacher's handwriting and ADHD so couldn't even concentrate on trying to read the teacher's handwriting.

Annabeth continued, "I grew up in the wizard world because I'm pure-blooded. My mother has taught me lots of magic. I wouldn't be surprised if I was top of the class."

Percy rolled his eyes at her. She was prideful to a fault. There was nothing humble about the gray-eyed girl.

When the class started and they were learning how to levitate a feather, Percy surprised himself by getting it on the first time. He even levitated it before Annabeth.

That had earned him an annoyed glare from the girl.

In Flying the same thing happened.

The class all had to call "up" towards their broomstick and catch it as it floats up to them.

Percy and Annabeth got the broomstick to come to their hand at the same time. So much for her gloating.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, Percy decided, was his favorite class. The teacher, Professor Chiron, encouraged the students to do well and didn't look at Percy as though he had an IQ lower than that of a fish.

Annabeth seemed to have a father-daughter relationship with Professor Chiron. You could tell by the way he beamed proudly at her when she got something right. Only parents looked at their children in such a way.

What Percy wasn't expecting in the class was Professor Chiron being disabled. The man sat in a wheel chair, a plaid blanket covering his legs.

All through the class Annabeth sent hateful glares at Percy. He honestly didn't know what he did wrong. It wasn't his fault she couldn't be the best at everything. Besides, it'd be good for ego not to be at the top in a few of her classes.

Ψ

"She's awful. She always glares at me and I do nothing!" Percy exclaimed to a chuckling Luke.

It was dinnertime and the tables were filled with every food Percy could imagine. He grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice and any blue food he could find. He was limited to eating a blueberry parfait, but the color reminded him of home.

"Aw, she's not bad once you get past her pride." Luke replied to Percy.

They were talking about Annabeth.

"Yea, like that's ever going to happen." Percy snorted.

Suddenly, Luke grew serious. It unnerved Percy the way his scar looked when he wasn't laughing. Like it told it's own story just by being there. Like it held all the dark secrets in the world. He suppressed a shiver.

"Seriously, Percy. Annabeth is like a little sister to me, give her a chance. She's... she's been through a lot" His eyes grew sad for a second, but quickly diminished. Luke went back to happily eating his chicken roast.

What was Luke talking about? Why did he seem so sad all of a sudden?

Percy wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answers to his questions.

Ψ

It was transfiguration and Percy and Annabeth were already in an argument.

The teacher tried calming the children down, but soon gave up. It was hopeless to get those two to stop arguing. The class would just have to wait it out.

"You idiot!" Annabeth had her wand pointed threateningly at Percy's nose.

"It was an accident!" Percy shouted with his hands in the air, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous she looked.

He had accidentally made her ears into the ears of a mouse. The ears combined with her cherry red face was a scene set for a TV show.

"Turn my ears back!" Her face went into a deeper red and her knuckles grew white.

"Why don't you if your so smart?" He mimicked her voice, unsuspectingly accurate.

"I do not sound like that!" A lock of golden curls fell from her prim ponytail.

"Sure you do, Wise Girl."

She stomped her foot in annoyance. By now the whole class was in a fit of giggles. The two didn't seem to even notice.

"If you don't I'll turn your brain into seaweed! Maybe you'll be smarter that way." She sneered at him.

"Oh boo-hoo. If you hadn't noticed, I don't really care about your ears!"

That was a lie. Already Percy felt twinges of guilt prodding at his stomach.

"You are such a Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth shouted before storming out of the room.

It was going to be a long year for both of them.

CHAPTER 6

History of Magic class was droning on and on in an endless loop of boring and even more boring. Percy mindlessly looked out the large arched windows of the spacious and unamusing classroom. The outside was much more exciting than the teachings of Professor Mnemosyne's lecture about who knows what. Outside the wind danced through the bare branches of the almost leafless autumn trees and the sun sang bright behind puffy clouds of white with the promise of unseasonable warmth. Inside the most excitement was the squeaky and unpleasant voice of Professor Mnemosyne.

Percy eyes were tracing the path of a particularly large and glowing white bird when he heard a throat being cleared behind him.

He turned around to find the professor's dull, beady black eyes fixated on him like a hawk on a mouse. Deep crow's feet were evidently etched into her old and wrinkled skin that sagged sadly off her face. She stood so close to his desk that Percy could practically smell the odor of mothballs and musty perfume. She reminded him of the Wicked Witch of Grandmothers.

"Mr. Jackson, if you would, please tell the class of the eccentricities of Uric the Oddball." Her shrill voice grated on his ears like nails on a chalkboard. She sugar-coated her words in an attempt to cover up her annoyance, but she did not do it well enough.

Her fading orange hair hung lifelessly in a too tight bun marked with the grey streaks of age. The woman's small and scrawny frame was all but consumed in her large and blooming black robes. The out of style cat eye glasses she always wore slipped to the base of her nose making her face an even sterner complex of lines.

In that moment Percy truly disliked her. He hated to be called out on the spot like that; to be made a fool in a moment's notice. She reminded him of his horrible math teacher back in the Muggle world, Mrs. Dodds. They should get together and start an unnecessary hag club, he thought.

"Uh, well Professor, he um... He wore a funny hat. Oh, and slept with strange things!" The last part of Percy's answer earned a giggle from the rest of the class (well except for a certain Annabeth Chase).

A small frown formed on the professor's thin, tight lips. She really needed a new lipstick color, at the moment they were coated in a perky pink that made it look as if a bubble of bubblegum had popped right over them.

"Very well, Mr. Jackson. I suppose you are not incorrect, but next time please pay attention in class so you may recount specific details." Her voice was clipped and clearly irritated.

Percy sighed in relief, he had at least saved himself from maximum embarrassment.

Again the class went back to droning on about this wizard or witch and the next, and again Percy stared out the window as the professor's voice faded from his hearing.

When the class finally and thankfully ended and it was time to go, he felt his arm being gripped with a steely force.

The hand belonged to none other than Annabeth Chase. Honestly, Percy just wanted to go eat lunch.

"What do you want, Chase?" He asked in dramatic exasperation while peeling Annabeth's warm fingers from his wrist.

"Why don't you pay attention in class? You're a Slytherin, the house of ambition, but you don't apply yourself." She studied him with those grey eyes that were much too intelligent for an eleven year old. Her tone wasn't judging, but instead filled with a passionate curiosity like that of a scientist's.

Percy was a little taken aback at Annabeth calling him a Slytherin like that and did not reply right away until her face grew more intense in the waiting of an answer. Why was any of this her business in the first place? She had no right to ask such questions. Still, Percy found himself answering the Ravenclaw's question.

"I, uh, have ADHD. It makes hard to stay focused on things. Especially boring things." Percy rubbed his neck abashedly. He preferred to not make all of his somewhat private information known to the world.

Instead of making fun of him or pitying him, Annabeth gave a single nod as if he just confirmed something she already knew. Her face filled with satisfaction, the furrow in her eyebrows lessened and the intensity of her stare grew quiet.

Percy thought she'd say more, but all she did was turn around and walk off to what he presumed would be the dining hall with a fantastic swish of her dark cloak. It wasn't until after she left and Percy stared like an idiot down the hallway that he realized their conversation had been the first in weeks that didn't hold hostility or wasn't accompanied by shouting. He could get used to that.

Unfortunately, the small ounce of civility between the two did not last long. As Percy was making his way to the dining hall he couldn't help but glance out the windows once more to see the beautiful fall day that made his heart ache and leap for the outdoors. Although, it wasn't just a lake and grass he saw. Near the Forbidden Forest he swore that a certain blonde haired Ravenclaw was entering it's dense perimeter.

He shook his head in disbelief at the vision before him, at Annabeth sneaking into the forest with only a few glances around. Annabeth Chase didn't break rules. She was a goody two-shoes, no way would she enter the Forbidden Forest.

But he definitely saw her glittering french braid and impeccably straight and ironed robes.

What business did she have doing there? Students were not supposed to go in the Forbidden Forest, Professor Dionysus explained that somewhat at the feast in the beginning of the year in a sloppy, drunken slur. Percy didn't go against the rules set for him, he didn't want the attention if he did, but to see Annabeth Chase, Miss Pride and Perfectionist going against the rules... It was just too unrealistic.

But that person definitely bore a remarkable resemblance to the Ravenclaw.

Curiosity got the best of him and instead of going to the dining hall to get his long awaited lunch, Percy headed towards the outdoors. The Forbidden Forest loomed with the overhang of danger and malice. The trees themselves seemed to be grown from dark magic and watered in a ferocious poison. It was not a friendly place and why an okay eleven-year-old girl would even dare think of entering it, Percy could not fathom.

The dark barks textured the knotted trees in gruesome cracks and the thick, twisted branches shadowed the interior of the forest in a wash of black. Unfamiliar sounds shouted out from its misty surrounding and every creak and rustle lurked with the warning of harm.

A crawling shiver crept its way up and down Percy's spine all the way to the hollows of his bones.

Annabeth was nowhere in sight down the ruddy trails in the forest. It was like she had vanished into the forbidding abyss of mist. He would never admit it, but Percy grew concerned for the girl and her safety (even though he was fairly sure she could handle herself just alright).

He tread carefully on the muddy ground and finally found footprints of what he assumed was Annabeth. They were small and petite, which surprised Percy, who was a good two inches shorter than her, but had feet at least three sizes bigger. The footprints led even deeper into the forest where the trees grew closer together until they were on top of each other and where not even a shred or sparkle of light penetrated to the floor.

The footprints were sparse as if she had been flying and only touched the ground to give herself a bit of an extra boost. Percy thought that's how she walked all the time, weightless like a feather and drifting through the wind at a rapid pace so no one else could keep up. The footprints were just as much a mystery as Annabeth, providing enough information for an outline but not for details. It was funny how footprints could parallel the person creating them.

When the footprints seemed to finally stop Percy was perplexed to find himself in just an ordinary part of the forest. This part was just like all the others, creepy and crowded with that terribly opaque mist. What was so attractive about this to Annabeth?

Percy glanced around to see if he missed anything. There had to be at least one thing that would stand out, something of even the most minor significance that would force a bright and reasonable witch to break the rules.

He saw absolutely nothing. There were only trees and the surrounding, suffocating darkness that seemed to want to swallow him whole.

"What are you doing here?!" A hot and angry voice yelled at him from behind.

Percy must have jumped a mile in the air.

Behind him was none other than Annabeth Chase. Where had she come from? He swore there was no one in that section of the forest besides him. It was if she was invisible for the moments of his arrival and decided now to reappear unannounced.

On reaction Percy drew his cypress wooded wand towards the tip of Annabeth's nose in a menacing and threatening way. His heart still fluttered in his chest from the fright Annabeth had given him just a second ago.

"Take that wand away from my face." She demanded through gritted teeth.

Her face had taken a bright red, splotchy color. Her jaw was clenched so tight it was a wonder that she didn't shatter her teeth. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest and stood primly in annoyance and ire.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked, lowering his wand, but not letting go of it. The forest made him jumpier, more on edge than he had ever felt at the school.

"What am I doing here?" Her voice was livid like it was a catastrophic mistake for Percy to ask such a simple question. Her hands balled into fists. She looked about ready to clobber Percy over his head and leave him to the savage beasts that held residence in the ominous forest.

"How did you get here? I was just looking around and you were no where in sight. Why are you even here in the first place? Do you have like a secret cult of werewolves out here or something? Is that why you hate me? Because I'm not a werewolf?" Percy's ADHD had taken over his whirring brain, sputtering out random nonsense that held little relevance to the argument.

Annabeth looked completely baffled by the strew of words that had just been flung from Percy's mouth. Her mouth hung dumbly open in a perplexed state. She shook her head as if to rid of her confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" Her voice still held undeniable hostility and each syllable was as sharp as a piece of fractured glass.

Percy suddenly grew embarrassed of himself. His rambling made him feel foolish. Not that he'd let Annabeth know that.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" He asked sheepishly with a crooked grin, attempting to diffuse the growing argument.

He did the exact opposite.

"How dare you ask me that when you followed me here! I should be asking you the same! Why were you following me? And don't even try to deny it." She glared at him with the intensity of an open flame, her icy gray eyes brewing with a fierce and powerful storm.

"I was curious about what you were doing! You're not supposed to enter the Forbidden Forest, its breaking the rules. Rules shouldn't be broken!" Percy found his own voice taking higher volume. His previous attempt for renewed civility ended terribly. He could already feel a white-hot emotion flowing beneath his skin and around his heart.

"That logic is so backwards! You broke the rules to tell me I shouldn't be breaking the rules. I will certainly not tell you why I am here, seeing as it is none of your business." She gave her foot a stomp in stubbornness and whipped her head away from his view. Her actions were childish, but at the moment she did not care.

"Fine! Then I'll just be off." Percy was infinitely mad now. Annabeth was too much for him to handle. She was an annoying prick that couldn't even try to be the least bit nice to him. Yes, he had been snooping about Annabeth's whereabouts, but he had also grown concerned for her. Now he wouldn't care if a centaur attacked her.

Angrily, he marched off down the trail he had come. In the midst of muttering to himself he heard what sounded like a broken sob coming from the patch of trees Annabeth was still in.

Quiet as a stalking cat, Percy tiptoed his way to the area again, in the heart of the forest. He was all too careful not to misstep, to not create a creak or a snap or a crunch, to make sure his presence was unbeknownst to Annabeth.

Percy hid himself behind a black tree with a particularly large and round trunk. Its wood knotted in severe shapes and its lower branches spindled their way onto Percy's head with the sense of creepily thin and dead fingers. This forest was designed to bring to life the crawls and shivers of the night, it felt home to a malevolent source that could not be recuperated in a world filled with light. Percy wished he knew the spell to cast light.

Peering slightly over his shoulder he saw Annabeth's small frame slumped grievously against one of the many trees. Her body shook like a rattle accompanied by remorseful and heavy sobs. She had her hands delicately placed on the pitch bark of the tall and enormous tree. At that moment she was not an irritating girl that loved to argue and cause disruption in Percy's life, but a sad and almost pitiful one. Percy felt a sharp twinge of sympathy pierce through his heart like a javelin. Annabeth was so alone, hugging that tree like it was an old friend.

Cautiously Percy made his way from behind the tree to the point where he was visible for Annabeth to see. He felt the strong need to comfort her now, even though he had no clue how to do that. Did girls like hugs at times like this? Or maybe he should just listen to her talk? He was as clueless as a barbarian when it came to these things. But could you blame an eleven-year-old boy?

"Annabeth?" His voice was uneasy, unsure of what to say. He really should have gone back to the castle. Lunch was probably over already.

At the sound of his voice Annabeth sprang herself up and away from the tree. Her hands wildly wiped at her eyes erasing all traces of tears, though her face still remained flushed and her eyes still held a red tint around the rims.

"You were leaving!" She accused him. Her face twisted with her rage, her lips parted in a deranged snarl.

Percy's hands automatically flung into the air as if he was surrendering to Annabeth's shout.

"I-I heard you crying." Percy said nervously, not wanting to break the already shattered glass. He made his eyes wide and innocent as he did at home when his mother teasingly got mad at him. He prayed to whatever gods existed that his eyes would lessen Annabeth's powerful punch.

"I was not crying! And if I was it would be none of your business. NOW GET OUT!" She jabbed towards the exit of the forest and Percy was too afraid to disobey her loud command.

He practically sprinted out of the forest. He was not yet accustomed to Annabeth's extreme anger, especially when it was her pride that was wounded.

He felt himself out of breath by the time he made it to transfiguration class.

Ψ

Percy was seated next to Travis Stoll at breakfast the next morning. The boys were buffooning around with their food and drinks much to Silena's disgust. Percy had built a fortress from his mashed potatoes and Travis was currently trying to take it down through milk snorted from his nose. It was positively disgusting and immature, but the boys laughed like hyenas at a circus.

"Do it again!" Percy breathed out through his fit of laughter. His face was bright, tomato red.

Travis slurped up some more of his chocolate milk and squirted it out at the mushy pile of mashed potatoes already soaked in liquid.

The boys cracked up again, clutching their stomachs. Silena passed them a spiteful and dirty look. Her button nose scrunched up in repulse and her dark ebony ponytail swished as she turned her head away from the edible disaster.

"That is the grossest thing ever." Her distaste was excessive.

"Oh lighten up Silena." Luke said with a cheeky grin, slinging his arm playfully across her shoulders.

She took his tanned arm off hers with a milky white hand, allowing it to fall to his side.

"Hands off Castellan. I'm taken." She said with a dreamy sideways glance to the Gryffindor table.

Luke let out a good-hearted chuckle. His white and jagged scar looked a lot less sinister when he was laughing. Percy thought that scar portrayed more of Luke's emotions than anything else about him. He wondered how he had gotten it, not that he'd be rude enough to ask.

Silena raised her hand and waved at a burly boy. He waved back with his strong arms, shadowed underneath his black robes. His grin was gleeful and she let out a lovesick giggle when he gave her a flirtatious and humorous wink. She felt intoxicated just by the mere sight of him, her insides rumbled with joy and she longed for him to wrap his arm around her.

"Isn't Charlie just the best?" She sang happily, completed with a content sigh.

"Oh yea, Charlie is the best ever. Great kisser too." Luke snickered.

Silena swat at his arm with her manicured hand.

"Only I get to call him Charlie." She said with a playful glare.

The two went on with their teasing fight like brother and sister. Percy tuned them out when he saw a flock of owls coming towards the grand windows. In the midst of all the owls Percy spotted Blackjack, sleek and inky dark amongst the browns and whites of the others. She was a true beauty and carried with her a long rectangular box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. The gift wrap seemed a little out of season.

Blackjack landed gracefully on the small section of the table that wasn't littered with food. She cooed when she saw Percy and dropped the gift in front of him. Percy pet her head as she rubbed her feathers against his warm hand.

"What do you have for me, Blackjack?" Percy asked in a silly voice to the owl.

He took the rectangular box and shook it like he did with all his presents.

By now the other Slytherins were looking at him expectantly, waiting to find out what Percy had received.

"Well open it." Luke said with a grin wider than anyone else.

Percy shred the wrapping paper off of the box. The Christmas themed paper was strewn all over the table and squashed Percy and Travis' food travesty.

Percy lifted the top of the box. Inside was the most beautiful broom he had ever seen. The wood was dark and sleek with no knots. The bristles mirrored the color of the handle and gold patterns wove intricate designs in it.

"That's a Shoewing 2000! They're one of the most expensive kind of brooms." Travis said, eyes wide with awe. He looked as if he had just witnessed a miracle.

"Who's it from?" Percy asked, turning over the box and sorting through the paper to find some kind of name.

"Yours truly." Luke said with a bow of his head.

"Luke! Man, you didn't have to get me this. I'm just learning how to fly." Percy said though a ecstatic grin hung on his lips.

"It was the least I could do. My... father," His words seemed to hesitate and harden a little when saying this, "He got a couple for really cheap. I know you don't come from a wizard family, so I thought I'd give you a broom. It really wasn't much of a trouble. Besides I won't be here next year, consider it an early goodbye present." Luke plastered a smile on his face. It didn't seem to reach his eyes. Or his scar.

With another 'thank you' from Percy and some jealous ooing and aahing from the other kids, they went back to eating. Travis snorted more milk through his nose and Percy laughed a chuckle filled with even brighter joy. Silena made googly eyes at Beckendorf while he tossed her the occasional wink. No one noticed how quiet Luke had grown or how his blue eyes stormed over. No one noticed the sharp edges of his scar that always told the most about him.

CHAPTER 7

Snow enveloped the grounds in a gloss of white glitter. The air was frigid with the rasping of winter's brutal winds. Frost crept its way onto each window in crackling, intricate patterns. Fires roared in homes all around and the skies rolled in dreary, lifeless grays.

Trees were barren and a soggy brown as if the blooming life they held that summer had been washed away in the temperature drop. The sparse evergreens sang with the only breath of color in the outside. Their dark greens bowed in December white.

Christmas break would be starting in just a few days. Christmas would be here in a week. It would be Percy's first Christmas without his mother. He wouldn't be making blue chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen or listening to "Jingle Bell Rock" on their cheap plastic radio. He didn't think that it would really be Christmas this year, not without Sally Jackson at least.

She had sent him a letter through the mail. Blackjack had held it tenderly in her beak and cooed when Percy took it from her. Sally's loopy scrawl was on the front and Percy didn't even bother trying to read it, he knew the inside writing would be easier to read. Sally only ever used her formal penmanship on the outside of the envelope and Percy could always recognize it from a mile away even if he couldn't read it.

The envelope was crisp and cream with a small, red Santa hat sticker holding it closed. In her normal script on the envelope read in bold letters "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS". Percy had smiled to himself when he read that. Back when he was only five years old his mother had hidden presents in her bedroom closet. Percy had stumbled upon them a week before Christmas Day and being as curious as he was opened them right there in the room leaving a trail of snowman clad wrapping paper scattered everywhere. From then on everything that had to do with Christmas was always marked with a "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS" in Sally's handwriting.

The envelope smelled like home as weird as that was. It didn't smell like Percy's home with the cigar smoke everywhere and the beer stains on the rug. No, it smelled like a proper home with warmth radiating throughout. The envelope lingered with Sally's rose perfume that she bought when she had extra spending money (which wasn't often) and with the baking of cookies in the oven. Percy sighed to himself in self pity. He really missed home. He missed his mom's voice and smile. He missed her reassurance that everything would be fine. His house might have not been good by itself, but with Sally Jackson it was just fine. Hogwarts didn't hold the same right feeling.

Of course he loved Hogwarts, but it just wasn't the same. He didn't grow up here. Sally Jackson didn't live here. There was few memories here, good or bad. He finally had made some friends at least. Grover was his best friend, despite being in different houses. He was ecstatic when he made the Hufflepuff quidditch team as a chaser. Grover was going to his Uncle Fernidad's for Christmas this year. Travis was another one of his good friends. He had a little brother, Connor, and would be going home too. It seemed everyone was going home for Christmas, even Luke who always avoided the topic of home. Silena would be with her dad and they'd make chocolate together for Christmas as they did every year and her mom would send in some meaningless present. Everyone had a place to be and a tradition to uphold except Percy.

The only thing that Percy truly loved about Christmas at Hogwarts was the decorations. The teachers spelled the halls in jolly decor. Magnificent trees of gigantic size held themselves upright in the already grand dining hall, their branches dressed in strings of garland and sparkling ornaments. Each tree was decorated in different colors that represented the houses. One was all royal reds and handsome golds, while another held deep, mystic greens and startling silvers. Two more had entrancing blues and mechanical bronze, and a summer's yellow with the deepest, darkest black. There was one more tree besides these four, the greatest of all of the. It's tip tickled the faux sky that the ceiling bestowed. The decorations were kept simple on it, all white and sparser than the others. It was dazzlingly beautiful. Percy never saw a more divine Christmas tree, not even the one in New York City.

Percy wrote his letter to his mom trying to describe each menial detail to her. He knew she'd love to hear about it, she loved Christmas and the Christmas spirit. It took a painstakingly long time to write the letter. His ADHD didn't want to cooperate and every little distraction was magnified by ten. His dyslexia made the letters scrambled together like alphabet soup. Nevertheless, he got it done and sent it away with a cooing Blackjack in a shiny, white envelope.

Percy managed to sneak Blackjack a few donuts from the kitchen for her Christmas present. She always loved to peck at his during breakfast and to put it frankly, it was getting a bit more annoying than it was endearing.

When Christmas finally came Percy was surprised to wake up to a few presents by his bed. He only ever got something little from his mom, but presents were never the main focus for Christmas in the Jackson household. Christmas had always been about family. Luke had left him a card, the Shoewing 2000, was a present enough. Silena sent him a small box of chocolates from her father's bakery. They were a little too hard and a little too bitter, but Percy loved them nonetheless. Grover gave him a Rasta cap like the colorful one he owned and even Travis left him a small key chain that said Bermuda (no doubt stolen from some poor, unsuspecting soul. Travis really lived up to his last name).

Dinner was going to be that night. Percy never had that special of a dinner for the holidays. His mom tried, but they just couldn't afford a turkey or a ham, mashed potatoes, and pie. However, they did manage to always go out for Chinese food on Christmas. Percy would order lo mein with sesame chicken and Sally always got pork egg rolls. It wasn't a traditional Christmas meal, but it was something they could afford.

To say the least, the Christmas feast at Hogwarts blew Percy's mind. Only a small group of students stayed over break, so only one table was in use. A large red, embroidered table cloth was draped over the dark wood. Piles and piles of plates lined the table with every possible food imaginable. There was pumpkin pie, pot roast, cranberry jam, and so much more. Percy could feel his eyes going to the size of saucers. He tried to hide his embarrassment when Professor Chiron let out a small smile at his childlike excitement.

Percy had not expected to see Annabeth sitting at one end of the table looking positively lonely. Her face sagged in grumpiness and she seemed to be terribly bitter. Percy couldn't imagine why, even he began to enjoy himself, despite being away from his mother. He felt bad for her, he even thought of going over and sitting by her. After that afternoon in the woods they hadn't talked much, in fact not at all. Annabeth didn't even insult him any more, just avoided his presence altogether. He decide against sitting by her. It would be awkward after he witnessed her outburst and besides, she would hate his pity. She wasn't the type of person that took any form of pity well.

His mom's voice nagged in the back of his head. She was telling him it was not gentleman like to leave a lady like that. Percy repressed a sigh and took the seat across from her. He really hated that voice in his head.

"Hey Annabeth." His voice shook a little. What? He couldn't help it with the way she glared at him with those intense, knowing eyes.

"What do you want?" Her tone was pure rudeness with a splash of bitter. What had he even done that made her resent him so much?

"Uh, just to eat."

To make a point he grabbed a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes. She rolled her eyes dramatically in response.

"Whatever." She flipped her blonde curls behind and pointedly ignored him.

The thick silence between them was physically painful. Percy's ADHD was going nuts, he couldn't keep himself quiet. His leg bounced up and down without any rhythm and a thousand words were buzzing on his tongue. He just had to do something else than just sit there and be quiet.

"Your wand is really cool." Percy could slap himself for saying something so stupid, but it's not like he was lying. Her wand was just resting on top of the table a few inches away from her nearly empty plate of food. It was made of light wood, glossed over in a shimmering silver. A few rings wound their way around the tip and a couple more around the handle. It was simple and elegant. It was a lot like Annabeth.

"Thanks. It's elm wood with unicorn hair. I got it at Ollivander's" Annabeth picked the wand up and smiled at it proudly. Her mood washed away in the simple, if not idiotic, question.

Percy thought back to Ollivander's, back to Hecate Ollivander and her strange message. He meant to tell Grover about it or at least someone, but never did. The way her looks changed in the blink of an eye and how she knew his name was chilling. A shiver ran its way down his spine.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked, blonde eyebrows furrowed.

Percy shook his head as if to physically dispel of the haunting memory.

"Yea, fine."

Annabeth didn't seem to believe him and still held a quizzical expression on her young face.

In an attempt to clear the air of the conversation Percy asked, " So, why are you staying here for Christmas?"

Annabeth's body went rigid. Her fork froze in midair on the way to her open mouth which she promptly clamped shut. It took another whole second for her body to loosen from its tenseness and for her to chew and swallow the turkey on her fork.

"You don't have to say or anything if you don't want." Percy quickly said, easily seeing Annabeth's discomfort with the subject.

"I know I don't." She said coldly before getting up and exiting the dining hall.

Ψ

Percy lied in his bed, drumming his fingers against the nightstand to his right. His room was empty except for himself. Usually there were three others in the room with him- Travis, Ethan, and Alabaster, but tonight and for the next 10 days it would just be him. Ethan wasn't supposed to go away over break, but something had come up last minute, or at least that's what Ethan said. His demeanor had been odd the few days before he left and his actions a little shady. Percy decided to just shrug it off. He barely even knew Ethan anyways, who was he to decide Ethan was acting strange?

He got up and made his way to the common room. Percy didn't love the Slytherin dungeon all too much. It was too dark and too creepy to ever feel like a home, especially when it was empty like this. The lighting was too low and cast an eerie green shadow along the stone walls. It looked and felt like a cold place. It was so much different than the Hufflepuff common room. Grover had taken Percy there once. Inside it was worm and comfortable chairs were everywhere including sofas and beanbags. Almost everyone was merry and a roaring yellow fireplace was in the back wall. Percy absolutely loved it, but the other students couldn't even look him in the eye when he was there. It was as if wearing Slytherin's colors branded a person for life as cruel and malicious. Percy hated it.

He slumped on one of the leather couches, letting his robes spread out around him. Only two other Slytherins were staying for the holidays and they were both 7th years, too old for Percy to actually hang out with. He had no clue how to occupy himself. Christmas really did not feel like Christmas this year.

His eyes started to creep closed and Percy found himself dozing off when a shock of a book slamming to the floor caught his attention. In that moment his heart stuttered to a stop and his body jerked up in surprise. Standing in front of him was none other than Annabeth Chase.

"What are you doing here!" Percy shouted at her, still freaked out from the leather bound book now resting on the floor.

She didn't say much right away. He noticed her eyes were rimmed with red and her cheeks flushed from their normal rosy color. She looked like she had in the Forbidden Forest; she looked as though she had been crying.

"Annabeth, what are you doing here?" His voice was a little more gentle.

She shook her head as if she was confused herself as to why she was in the Slytherin common room.

"Never mind, I'll just be on my way." Annabeth said, quietly shuffling towards the door.

"Uh, okay." Percy said clearly unsure about the whole situation.

Annabeth stopped and hesitated before her tan hand clasped the door knob.

"It's just what you asked about me staying for the holidays. I've been thinking about it a lot." Annabeth said, her curls glinted in a faint tint of green from the spooky fire. "When I was seven I ran away from home. I went into the muggle world, away from my family. My father... he was having an affair and my mother only focused on her job. She's an auror and that seems to be all she cares about. I-I haven't even really talked to my parents in years. I hardly ever see them at home." Her body was still facing towards the door, but her fingers no longer reached for the knob.

"When I ran away my parents didn't even notice. Only my friends did- Thalia, Luke, and Grover. Thalia, she... went down the wrong path. She started to practice the dark arts. She's dead now." Annabeth's voice was near a whisper. Percy still didn't fully understand the story with its big gaping holes of no detail or even why she was telling him this, but he still couldn't help feel sorry for her. It didn't seem to have anything to do with why she stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas.

"Annabeth..."

She turned around towards him and gave Percy one of her wicked glares.

"If you tell anyone I'll kill you. I'm not afraid to use the death curse." With that final she left the room. Percy could hear her steps echoing on the stairwell.

His mind wandered to the missing parts of the story. Annabeth hadn't told very much, only a few details really, but she had mentioned Grover... Maybe he could ask him when the break was over. That girl Thalia that had gone down the path of dark arts, what was her story? More importantly, what was the rest of Annabeth's story?

Chapter 8

"Get your filthy butt over here, Jackson!" Clarisse snarled like a wild boar across the yard.

Clarisse was a second year Gryffindor, brash and feral, strong and threatening. She was built to carry a thousand pounds or pull a car across the country. Her stringy mouse-brown hair clung to her sweat ridden forehead as if it were glue. Her crooked teeth showed in just the slightest, just enough to give her an even more fearsome look.

And she was after Percy.

"I-I swear I didn't mean to!" Percy shouted, barely suppressing the laughter bubbling in the back of his throat. He raised his hands in mock surrender, but the hilarity of the situation gave them a slight tremor, not unnoticeable to Clarisse. She grew even more infuriated with the eleven-year-old.

So Percy may have been 'practicing' his magic, but he swore that he hadn't meant to hit the Gryffindor bully with a hex. At least, that's what he told Professor Tantalus, when he was roughly grabbed by the collar of his robe and brought into the teacher's room for a punishment. Luckily, Percy got off with only two nights of detention. It was worth it to see the sight of Clarisse in front of him.

From her head, two horns sprouted and made her look like a crazed beast or maybe even the devil himself. They were a slightly lighter color than her hair and just as thick as her meaty arms. A group of kids started to gather around the two young wizards, snickering at the sight of Clarisse and her horns. Oh, what a wonder Anteocultia could do.

A good 20 feet remained between the two, but Clarisse inched her way forward in short angry stomps.

"I. Said. Get. Your. Butt. Over. Here. Jackass." Each word flung from her mouth was punctuated with another stomp.

Percy finally released the giant laugh growing inside of him. The horns made the scene all the more comical and despite Calrisse's four inch height advantage and bulk, Percy didn't feel a speck of fear from her. That was until she grabbed him into a headlock so tight he struggled fro breath.

"Let me go Clarisse!" Percy struggled against her grip, gasping for breath. He tried desperately to pull her arms off of his neck.

By now they had drawn quite a crowd. Percy saw the kids looking upon the scene with mixed stares; some were frightful, but others were... pitiful? He saw more than just a few looking at him in pity and concerned.

Among the crow Percy spotted Grover teetering nervously. His hands wrung in anxiousness. Percy could tell he wanted to interfere as Percy kicked and twisted within Clarisse's grip, but he proved to be too fearful.

More surprisingly, he saw Annabeth. Not only that her usually cool face matched the ones with the rest of the crowd. Why did everyone look so scared for him? A sudden cold fear chilled Percy's blood and bones.

"Clarisse stop!" Percy yelled when she started to drag him across the grass. He pounded on her thick and calloused skin with his more wimpy fists.

"What's that, punk? Begging, are we?" Her gravelly voice was more animal than it was girl. Honestly, Percy wouldn't be surprised if she was part animal. Or mostly animal.

She continued dragging him and he continue to struggle. Where were teachers when you needed them?

The feuding duo approached the daunting iron doors of an entrance back to the school.

"Clarisse! No, stop it!" A girl's voice called out.

Percy strained to turn his head a fraction of an inch to see who the owner of the voice was (despite him already knowing). Annabeth Chase was standing only feet away from them, her eyes frantic in defense for Percy.

"Shut it, Chase. If Percy wants to be funny then he can face his own consequences like a man."

Annabeth despaired back into the crowd, sending a look of sorrow Percy's way. Now, Percy was truly scared. What could be so bad that even Annabeth Chase would keep him from? Him and her were practically enemies at this point. Their dislike for one another had grown into a deep set hatred over the months. In fact, their last civil conversation had been that strange, almost vulnerable one on Christmas day three months ago.

Percy continued to fight against Clarisse hopelessly all the way she dragged him down the gray, stony hallway.

His eyes widened in the approach of the girl's bathroom door. He had heard the stories of this particular bathroom. He heard of the toilet. The toilet that had been hexed 30 years ago by a gifted student so it could never be cleaned. A practical joker, a boy seeking revenge on a girl. A hex so complex that even the teachers were unable to lift it. The toilet festered over time, becoming more and more disgusting each year, each day, each minute. No one ever used the bathroom as the smell was so retched no one could stand it. Percy understood now why the students had given him looks of sympathy. He wanted to give himself a look of sympathy.

Clarisse must do this to anyone that ticks her off.

The door ominously creaked open. The pungent odor of the room immediately assaulted his nose. He felt the rise of bile in his esophagus. All Percy wanted to do was sprint away from this face and never turn back.

"See this is gonna teach you lesson Jackson!" Clarisse bitched. Her face just inches from Percy's, aggressiveness radiating from every pore in her skin, all the way from her inner, rotten core.

The terrible scent and fear encompassed Percy's mind. He felt his thoughts go blank, it seemed over exaggerated for all he was about to be given was a swirly, but it was much more than just a swirly. It was swirly in a grimy toilet with 30 years worth of collected dirt and germs.

A pleasant tingling sensation filled his fingertips. A buzz droned its way through his body. His heartbeat raced skyward a the speed of light. Lines of white sprang up in his peripheral vision. Percy's fear dissipated away, replaced with a lively energy of anger and irritation. Clarisse would not humiliate him like this.

She was a bully and he had schooled her. When she decided to pick on a girl in his grade for not being able to mount a broomstick, Percy just had to make her look like her personality did. He delivered her justice and he wasn't about to let that all fall.

The sensation he felt burst out of him like a grenade. A monotone, ear-piercing buzz filled his ears. Percy didn't know what happened, but when he found himself a safe distance away from Clarisse. And Clarisse... She was drenched in a brown, murky sludge. An offensive odor emitted itself from every fiber of her being.

Her face was pure rage and disgust. She roared in fury and Percy scrambled his way out of the bathroom, running down the hallway. He turned to return outside knowing Clarisse would follow and she'd create a fool of herself in front of the whole school. There would be whispers for days about Clarisse and her unfortunate instance with the hexed toilet.

A giddy laughter fell from Percy's laugh. He felt amazing. He felt liberated; like all the troubles vanished in that one instance.

He opened the door upon hearing Clarisse call out his name like a death sentence, but his delight remained flourishing inside of him.

Percy was watching as Clarisse made her way down the hall way like a grotesque oaf.

He was just about to exit, that is until Professor Tantalus stood in the door way, looming like the grim reaper.

Percy's big, goofy grin fell from his face placed with outright fear. Tantalus' thin face showed complete and utter disaproval.

"Mr. Jackson, what is the meaning of this?" Tantalus tsked, peering at Clarisse dripping in questionable liquids. She crossed her arms over her body and a smug smirk displayed itself on her lips. She knew he was going to be in trouble.

"Come to my office, Perseus."

Percy gave a defeated, resigned sigh and followed Tanatlus as he beckoned him down the hallway.

"See you later, Jackass." Clarisse tauntingly whispered as Percy passed her and her foul smell.

He shot her a glare, hopefully worthy of Annabeth.

At least he wasn't the one that smelled like garbage while sporting animal horns.

Ψ

"So, Mr. Jackson, you are telling me that you did not use the water-making spell, Aguamenti on Clarisse La Rue this afternoon? You do realize that she was covered in toilet water, right? And I highly doubt she would do such a thing to herself." Professor Tantalus interrogated Percy about the day's previous incident.

"I swear, Professor! I've never even heard of that spell. I was just scared and this feeling washed through me. Then, what do you know, Clarisse is covered in gross toilet water." Percy claimed in his defense. He wasn't lying either, he never cast a spell or intentionally did that to Clarisse. Not that he was very disappointed with the outcome.

"Yes, what do you know." Tantalus said with the hiss of a snake. "Well, Mr. Jackson, all things considered I'm afraid you will have to account fr today's happenings. Clarisse is making a claim against you and she has been a fine student here at Hogwarts. Hardly ever in trouble, while you tend to show difficulties Mr. Jackson. In fact s student once reported seeing you in the Forbidden Forest once. Now, there was no basis for this claim so we dismissed it, but this will not be so easily shooed away"

Percy slumped in the uncomfortable dark oak, school chair. Of course he had been seen! It was just his luck.

"For your punishment, I will have to rather unfortunately take 30 points away from Slytherin and see you in here for two nights of detention. Consider this generous, Mr. Jackson, I could have been much more severe, but seeing as this is your first time to misbehave we will not be so harsh. Now, please leave my office and go back to your dormitory."

Percy grumbled a undeserving thank you and exited the damp office. Despite the punishment he still felt a sense of pride. Even if he really hadn't meant to cause the toilet explosion on Clarisse it was still quite a sight to see. Two days of detention wasn't too bad and 30 points could be made up. A faint trace of a smile made it's way to Percy's rosy lips.

Ψ

"Hey G-Man! Big game tonight, right?" Percy greeted Grover happily.

His last day of detention was over and Percy was excited to see his best friend. Grover had made the position of chaser on the Hufflepuff quidditch team and their game against Gryffindor was the next day. Gryffindor was notorious for a brutal and amazing team that played hard and almost always won. Hufflepuff was an excellent team too with training every chance they got, but unfortunately the best players had graduated from Hogwarts the previous yer and Hufflepuff's notability in the sport was falling.

Grover gave a nervous smile and a small bleat-like laugh. His curly brown hair poked out from his signature Rasta cap and his yellow and black tie was slightly rumpled.

"Yea, I guess as ready as I'll ever be. But how can we be ready when Gryffindor has Beckendorf and Clarisse as their beaters? Have you even seen the size of their muscles." To emphasize the point Grover's eyes got comically wide and he shook his head in somewhat phony fear.

Percy clapped the older boy on the back.

"You'll do great! You've won against Slytherin and we fight dirty." Percy encouraged his friend.

"Thanks, Perce." Grover said and after a moment of hesitation asked, "Do you think I could borrow your Shoewing? I- I know it's a lot to ask, but I want to have my best performance and those brooms are just terrific."

"Yea, no problem at all!"

"Really?! Thanks so much, Percy you're the best!" Grover's lips spread into a wide grin and Percy gave one right back in response.

After all it wasn't like he could use the broom anyways, he was only just learning to fly.

Ψ

The rain splattered hard on the crowd in big, plump drops. The wind howled through the early spring air like a ghost of the recent winter. Students pulled their scarves tighter around themselves trying to preserve what little warmth they had.

The game didn't start out pleasant and the overcast weather presented a depress feeling over the school, mellowing out the joy and excitement for quidditch, though it did not keep Percy from cheering for his best friend like a rowdy child. His hands and fingers were numb from the freezing temperatures but he kept on clapping anyways.

Silena was beside him decked out in red and gold. She was cheering for her boyfriend, Beckendorf, and her best friend, Clarisse. It still amazed Percy how a person as sweet as Silena could befriend someone as crude and barbaric as Clarisse. When people say opposites attract, they really aren't kidding.

Hufflepuff was in the lead after a penalty knocked Gryffindor down. Clarisse had made a face shot towards another beater on the Hufflepuff team. The girl she knocked down was petite with a long caramel braid flowing down her back in grace. She didn't appear to be beater material, but she showed her determination and strength in the game and was a fierce competitor. The girl was now lying in the infirmary with a bloody, possibly broken nose.

A small break in the clouds allowed a sliver a sunshine to dawn on the fliers just as Grover was about to throw the quaffle into one of Gryffindor's gold hoop.

When the keeper dodged to keep the ball from scoring, anxiety built up in Percy, he wanted so badly for Grover to win. When the keeper missed he couldn't contain his gleeful shout. Hufflepuff was winning and all they needed to do now was catch the snitch. It was easier said than done.

The Hufflepuff seeker had the small winged ball just within her grasp, but the fast flier flew out from her fingertips at just the last second. A collective 'aww' rang out from Hufflepuff supporters, but did not inhibited their enthusiasm for the rest of the game.

Travis provided commentary for the game along with a few sly, subtle marks that could easily go unnoticed by attending professors.

It was nearly ten minutes after the seeker almost caught the snitch that something odd had happened. Gryffindor scored three more goals and Hufflepuff one, putting them at a tie when Grover stared jerking in the air. At first it appeared he had just lost his balance for a second but after a few more moments the jerking of the broom continued and it was apparent it was not his doing.

The crowd stared in stunned silence, waiting for Grover to regain control. Even, the players halted a little, but continued playing, only with a little more weariness. Teachers were mumbling if they should do something, but ultimately decided it would be interfering with the game and therefore, cheating.

This decision proved to be bad one as Grover yelled, "HELP!" and tumbled off the broomstick.

A collective gasp rang through the crowd and all the players stopped as the boy fell to the ground. The professors were scrambling to do something, but in those precious seconds it wasn't the adults that were the saviors.

Percy rushed forward, adrenaline pumping in tsunamis throughout his body from the fear of his friend's endangerment. He pushed his wand dramatically out in front of him, robes swishing behind his back from the sudden arm movement and shouted with the force of a hurricane, "WINGADARIUM LEVIOSA!"

Grover stilled in the air, levitating only inches from the ground. The broomstick plowed itself into the ground, instantly breaking apart. Panting, Percy gently lowered his suspended friend to the ground. The crowd was shocked into silence. Yes, a young wizard could perform the levitation spell, but none were powerful enough to use it on a person especially in such a spontaneous fashion.

Murmurs filled the desolate air, even the wind died down in the powerful event. Friends whispered to friends and teachers whispered to teachers, but none took their eyes off of Percy Jackson. He stood there awkwardly unsure what he did to astound the crow, unsure what to do now. He caught the eye of Luke, but his eyes were dark and his facial contracted into what looked like anger, or neatly confined rage. Luke looked away, his blue eyes still sparked with that oddity.

Percy gulped, he felt his Adam's apple bob in and out. His hands started to shake slightly, he didn't like this kind of attention. Some students even looked afraid of him. By now Percy had gotten used to some nasty glares when wearing his house colors, but never had he'd seen a person look like a deer in headlights because of him. And it scared. It scared him much more than he'd like.

He felt someone grip is his elbow and felt a harsh whisper in his ear.

"Come to my office right now, kid. Professor Chiron is already waiting there."

It was the headmaster himself. The purplish black curls on his head were dulled in the gray light, all sunlight had disappeared from the scene. Percy, still shell-shocked, followed Professor Dionysus in a daze. He couldn't remember walking back in the school. He couldn't remember Dionysus speaking the password to enter his office. He barely even knew he was sitting in a seat until he felt the sleek leather beneath him.

"What kind of games are you playing kid?" Dionysus glared at Percy.

At this point Percy was just annoyed. The confusion and shock washed away in an instant with the headmaster's words. He was used to this, teachers always blaming him for everything. Teachers always playing him out as the bad guy. He wouldn't take it anymore. Not this time.

"I believe I just saved my best friend from near death while the professors here stood around like mindless bimbos." Percy spat.

Chiron shot Percy a look of warning mixed with concern.

"Listen, Peter, you won't talk to me like that. You've got serious powers, but it's probably just because of your daddy. You know I know Poseidon, in fact I talk to him on a weekly basis. And he hasn't asked about you once. Don't disrespect me, kid, because I can do so much more." Dionysus' watery blues eyes blazed with internal fire. For a man no taller than five foot, he seemed to take up the whole room.

Percy felt his blood boiling with the hot fire of red anger. He didn't even bother to correct his name from Peter to Percy, instead he leaped from the smooth char and brought his face just a centimeter away from the man's.

"Don't you dare talk about my father! Besides I don't give a crap about him, he abandoned me and my mother a long time ago. He can go to hell for all I care. And may I remind you that I'm only eleven years old and I can perform magic more powerful than fourth years!" With that Percy left the office, unafraid of any consequences. The only reason he didn't want to be kicked out was he wanted to have one year to not disappoint his mom. Well, at least if he got kicked out he wouldn't have to deal with that old sot, Dionysus.

The last thing Percy heard leaving the office was an exhausted and overwhelmed sigh from Professor Chiron before the heavy thump! of the wooden door.

Ψ

Percy was walking back to the Slytherin common room, still fuming over the recent events. He hadn't even been able to see if Grover was all right. At least he wasn't dead, Percy thought.

Grumbling and mumbling Percy made his way through the corridors when something outside the window caught his eye. Curiosity brought him to look out and see. There was nothing there. Percy shrugged to himself, it was probably just paranoia. He was a little on edge after casting that spell.

"What are you looking for?" A low voice asked, startling Percy.

Percy, with hair still standing on the back of his neck from the surprise, turned around to see Luke. He sighed in relief to see his good friend.

"Oh, hey, Luke. I wasn't looking at anything, just though I saw something. Must be all the nerves from the game." Percy gave him a sheepish smile.

Luke clapped his hand on Percy's shoulder and gave him a proud smile. His scar was almost nonexistent when he smiled, it was shadowed out in the blinding light of Luke's pearly white teeth. This look was so much different from the one Percy saw at the game, he wondered what that was about.

"That was really awesome, what you did today. You're a real hero, Percy." Luke said.

Percy beamed, but was also slightly bashful. He really looked up to Luke and for him to compliment him like that was really awesome.

"Thanks, but it was really nothing. Just spells we've been learning in class."

"Nothing!" Luke exclaimed. "I couldn't even do that. Say why don't we go out to the Forest and have ourselves a little party? I smuggled in some muggle soda." Luke gave Percy an impish grin.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know, Luke. We really shouldn't go, it's off limits to students."

"Nah, it'll be fine. I go there all the time and besides we don't want other people taking our stuff." Luke said at ease, not an ounce of worry of getting in trouble.

"Yea, okay, I guess so then." Percy said.

The boys walked down to the edges of the forest, merrily talking. Luke didn't mention the fear of the audience after Percy showed his powers and he was thankful for that. It was good to just get his mind off recent events. Everything was slamming into Percy. He just wanted to be normal, he never wanted to be a wizard.

"Here, just follow me." Luke said as they entered the foreboding, dim forest, finger like trees lining the path.

For some reason the path felt familiar to Percy, as if he'd been the way before, but... he'd only been in the Forbidden Forest once. What were the chances he'd go down the same path? Very little.

"So, where'd you get the soda from? I haven't had a coke in ages." Percy said, eyes wandering around the breath-taking scenery. The forest was eerily beautiful.

"Oh, just around..." Luke said not fully concentrating on Percy.

They walked further into the dense forest until Luke came to a stop.

Percy recognized the area. It was where Annabeth went and slumped against a tree and cried, and cried, and cried. Luke seemed particularly interested in that same tree too.

Percy started to turn towards Luke.

"Luke, what are we doing..." Percy didn't get to finish what he was saying when a fist connected with his jaw.

Luke threw a solid punch and Percy was knocked fully backwards onto his bottom.

"Stupefy!" Luke yelled, pointing his wand towards Percy.

Percy felt all his limbs, all his muscles, all his cells lock into place. He couldn't move. Panic clouded his thought. What was Luke doing? Why was Luke doing this?

"Now listen close." Luke growled.

"I have a story to tell." His words were full of malice. "You see this tree." He gestured towards the tree Annabeth had been wallowing over. "This isn't just a tree. This is a horcrux, Percy. What's a horcrux?, you say. Well, Percy. A horcrux is one of the darkest forms of magic. My best friend created this horcrux." Luke sneered, his scar was the epitome of evil, glistening with malevolence.

Percy wished with all his might that he could move, at least shout for help.

"But I'll start from the beginning." A chaotic grin crossed the blonde's face. "My father is Hermes, he works as apart of the International Magical Trading Standards Body. Hardly ever home, that bastard. He left me to grow up with my mother. I loved my mother, more than anything else." Luke seemed genuine about this, for a quick second sadness spread on his face, but was quickly vanquished. "But she has... disabilities. She was born with the gift of prophecy, but it drover her mad, seeing the future does not do well on the mind. She's in St. Mungo's now, a good place for her.

"I raised myself, Percy. My father didn't give two shits about me. Then, I found others just like me, ignored and abandoned by their parents. That includes Annabeth and Grover, but they're not important. What's important, is Thalia. Thalia Grace was the daughter of our, dear Minister of Magic, Zeus Olympus. Quite a scandal that girl was. Zeus cheated on his beloved wife, Hera, with a mere mortal. A Hollywood superstar in fact, Beryl Grace."

Percy wondered why Luke was telling him all this, why any of it mattered.

Luke continued on with his story, tauntingly waving his wand carelessly around, asserting his power over Percy. Yea, like he really needed to do that, Percy couldn't even move.

"Thalia's father treated her even worse than mine. Sure, mine didn't pay me any attention, but Zeus constantly told her how she was a mistake. How he wished she was born a muggle so he wouldn't have to care for her. He treated her like she was worse than the filth on the bottom of her shoes.

"Her mom wasn't any better. She cared more for an alcoholic beverage than her own daughter. So, Thalia rebelled. She went to the Dark Arts, It was little things at first, torturing bugs, but then it got a bit larger and finally they sent the dementors after her to take her to Azkaban. She was only 14 at the time. She knew beforehand what she was getting into so she created herself a horcrux.

"Now, Percy, a horcrux is created through murder and splits the human soul in two. Do you want to know who she murdered Percy?"

Percy really wanted to shake his head no.

"She murdered her mother. She hated that woman and used her life to save her own. This tree," Luke said patting the bark of the tree gently, "Is her horcrux. After making her horcrux she jumped off a cliff and killed herself. And using this, I'll resurrect her." He fiddled his wand like a blade. His shoulders were relaxed, but his arms were tense. He was trying to create a persona of cool, calm, and collected, but Percy could see the tension and rage building up in him.

"To resurrect a person from a horcrux, you need a few ingredients including... the bone of the father." Luke pulled out a plastic bag with a small fragment of an ivory solid inside. "You don't even want to know how I got this from Zeus." Luke shook his head and let out a small laugh like this was all some type of joke.

Percy shuddered on the inside. He couldn't fathom that this was the same Luke he looked up to. This Luke... this Luke was insane, a maniac parading in a sane person's clothing. Percy couldn't even believe that these events were true; magic was easier to accept as real.

"And then we also need flesh of the servant. That's a little hard to come by, but still I managed. It's just too bad it left Ethan without an eye." Luke devilishly smirked.

That must have been why Ethan was acting so funny the week of Christmas break, he must've formed an alliance with Luke then. Come to think of it... Percy hadn't seen his roommate in a while. He hadn't even noticed the boy's absence.

"And finally we need blood of the enemy. That's where you come in, Perseus."

Out of a pocket in his robe Luke pulled a gleaming gold dagger. Inscriptions were made all along the handle, it was an ancient rune in itself.

Percy really wouldn't mind being able to move at this point. His blossoming thoughts of terror bounced back and forth against the walls of his skull. Luke crept towards him like a cat on its prey.

"Now, please hold still." Luke grinned, his canines particularly pointy.

The knife dragged along Percy's skin in jagged movements. White hot pain gripped Percy's heart and if it weren't for the Stupefy spell Percy would have cried out in agonizing pain.

Luke cut through more skin than necessary, letting the blood roll down his body in iron scented streams. He cut along his collar bone and his left arm.

Luke collected the droplets in a small vile.

Satisfied, Luke closed the vile shut and gave one last jab at Percy with the dagger.

"Thank you for your compliance Percy. This would have been a lot easier if you were on that broomstick of yours. You know I cursed it and gave it to you so you'd fly on it and kill yourself. That was my original plan anyways. I'd just collect the blood from your dead body. But then you gave it to Grover so that was a no go." Luke stared right at Percy in the eye and Percy was forced to stare back. Percy really wanted his mom of all things. He was just a kid, an eleven-year-old and he was absolutely, purely terrified.

The intense pain blurred Percy's senses. He could faintly hear Luke's voice sprouting incantations. He could hardly notice blooming lights and colors. He just detected the slight shake of the earth beneath his body.

Percy knew he would die soon. He would die scared and alone in a strange place. It was horrible ending.

The wounds become too much to bear and his conscience began to slip through his grip. Just as black consumed all his vision and he was sure death was to greet him, a feminine voice rang through his ears.

It sounded like Annabeth.

Ψ

Percy woke up with a pounding in his head and aching, agitated throb throughout his body. He felt as though a bulldozer ran over him. Repeatedly.

Muffled voices began to invade his hearing.

"Yes... Thalia...No... in the Gryffindor..." A gruff man's voice said. It appeared to be Professor Chiron.

Percy strained to hear more.

"Will he be alright?" This one was Grover.

"He'll be fine, that stupid Seaweed Brain." Oh. Annabeth was here.

Percy tried to hear more, but fell back into his deep, peaceful slumber.

Ψ

Percy awoke fully three days later. He was greeted by Madame Hygenia and given a letter from his mother, telling him how worried she is and wanting to see him so badly. Percy pretended not to see the tear stains.

A few hours after waking up, Professor Chiron along with Professor Dionysus and Annabeth came to greet Percy.

They talked about what happened in the woods just days ago. Percy told all that he could remember and was informed that Annabeth had followed the pair after Luke had been acting suspicious. Aurors were now after Luke as he posed a very dangerous threat.

Percy finally told Chiron about the occurrence at Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Percy, there's something you need to know." Chiron said, obviously in dismay. His wise old eyes would not meet Percy's lively sea green ones.

"There was a prophecy told of you many, many years ago. It was one of the many reasons you had to grow up in the muggle world. It stated you'd bring down a great evil."

"M-Me?" Percy asked shocked, everything was too overstimulating. All the new information too much to process.

"Yes, but let's not talk about that now. We're sending you home early this year. I'll ask for you to stay at my place this coming August to discuss more on this particular matter, but for now we will not let it trouble you. You have already been through too much stress."Chiron informed Percy.

"I can go home?"

"Yes your mother is expecting you in a week. She wanted me to tell you that she's safe, that he's not around any longer. I suppose that means something to you."

Percy internally beamed, he could go home and best of all, Gabe wouldn't be their to ruin it.

"So you didn't catch Luke?"

"No, Percy we did not."

"What about the Thalia girl?' Percy thought back to his conversation with Annabeth on Christmas. It was no wonder she didn't want to discuss her.

"Let us not worry about that now. Like I said in August we will discuss this more. Until then please try to not think of it. Or the events that took place in the Forbidden Forest. It is best to forget about those for now, at least until we can form a plan of action. For now, rest, Perseus Jackson." Chiron left the room, leaving Percy with a thousand questions. Questions that wouldn't be answered until August- months and months away.

But that didn't matter. Percy was finally going home.

Chapter 9

Percy was angry. He'd been angry since the moment he arrived home. He was angry that the house still carried the stench of Gabe and his ungodly cigars. He was angry that that stench still made his stomach quiver despite all danger being gone. He was angry that his mother was keeping him in the dark about what happened to Gabe, how she got him to leave. He was angry his father still hadn't contacted him, despite Percy being inaugurated with the wizarding world for months. Most of all, Percy was angry at Chiron.

All summer he simmered over the fact that he wasn't allowed to even think of the wizard world. That he couldn't let his mind wander to his near death experience. His emotions of rage were an endless whirlpool right in his heart. He was much too mad for a boy who had only another month to turn twelve.

Sally tried to help him. She'd brought him to anger management classes, tried to keep him distracted, but nothing was working. So, Percy stewed and grumbled and mumbled and kept to himself, waiting and waiting for August to come. Waiting till he could vent everything out towards Chiron.

He knew it was unfair to his mother to act like this, but he just couldn't help it. He wanted to be able to know what was happening. What happened to the Thalia girl? Where did Luke go? What was Annabeth up to? Why did she care to save him? They didn't even like each other.

He had only two weeks to go until August 1st. Only two weeks until his return to magic. Two more weeks and he'd free every last drop of anger, rage, and fury. Two more weeks till his questions were answered. Percy already hated being told what to do, but telling him not to even think of something so drastic and important was beyond ridiculous.

Ψ

When August 1st arrived and Percy had his bags packed, anxiously awaiting Chiron's arrival with Sally sitting on the couch beside him, he realized he wasn't just mad at Chiron. He was furious and upset with Luke. Luke had been a role model to Percy. Luke had been one of his first friends. Percy had trusted Luke to great extents, and Luke only took that trust and snapped it in half like a twig. Percy did not like his trust being abused, people only got a one shot chance with it and Luke wasted his. Percy thought he might just have to ask Annabeth about that killing curse she spoke of, that is if she wasn't going to be annoying as she normally was.


	11. Rooftop Conversations

The soft night wind brushed shivers on her skin. Her hair shone silver rather than gold in the yellowed moonlight glow. The roof tiles were rough like sandpaper beneath her bare feet. She waited for the heavy footsteps that would soon follow.

Annabeth was lucky to have such a flat roof and a house in the country where the stars were a little less polluted by the city light. At Percy's apartment in the city, clouds fogged over most of the beacons that she was always drawn to. Ever since she was a young girl, Annabeth always felt that in the presence of the stars she could spill any secret, say anything without any consequence as the stars would keep her safe from life's harm.

"Hey." A hushed whisper came from behind her. Percy was clad in pajamas also. After all, it was well after midnight. He carried a bowl of popcorn and a hardly concealed worried look.

"Hi." She said in the same quiet tone. A small smile decorating her lips, twinged with a drop of sadness that only a best friend could see. That only Percy could see.

Percy sat right beside Annabeth, barely leaving an inch of space between the two. She rested her head on his shoulder, a familiar and comfortable place. His arm wrapped around her shoulders that were dressed in his blue hoodie (which was much too big for her).

They sat there in the same silence they had sat in before. It was the silence that accompanied them when Percy told her that his mom had finally left his step-father, Gabe. It was the same silence that wrapped its cloak around Annabeth when she told Percy her parents were getting a divorce. It was the silence that marked something important, something that had the power to alter the fragile threads of the life they knew.

The breeze rustled the fresh, green leaves in the trees surrounding the property. The air was scented with the cool morning's rain. Everything was just a little too perfect. Everything felt too new even if it was spring.

"What's up, Wise Girl?" Percy said, finally breaking the false tranquility the laid like glass between reality and fantasy.

Another moment passed with no reply.

"Annabeth?" Percy's voice wasn't even hiding his fear anymore.

She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"I- uh, L-" She fumbled over every word she tried to start in a very unlike Annabeth way. She was normally very eloquent, but not tonight. She trembled a bit and not from the chill of the night.

"Hey, it's okay." Percy told her, rubbing her arms, trying to protect her from the cold that wasn't actually hurting her.

And another moment passed.

Percy felt tears drop onto his bare arm and Annabeth curled into his side. Her body shook with soundless sobs that rose from her belly to her throat. She muffled the few that made noise through the hoodie of his now tear stained sweatshirt.

Percy held her even closer than was possible. His grip was tight and reassuring. He was there.

"I'm sorry." She breathed in a deep, ragged breath in a futile attempt to calm herself. She wiped furiously at her eyes to stop the flow.

"It's just-" She sighed in frustration, burying her face in the blue, fleece sleeves. "My whole life is falling apart right now." Her crying started up again, a little more severe.

"Hey, hey, hey. Look at me." Percy gently pulled her hands away from her face.

She started to calm down a bit, but still was left hyperventilating. For Annabeth it felt like a tidal wave was crashing down on her. It felt like she was being swept out to see with nothing to cling on to, to keep from going astray. It felt like water was rushing into her lungs and she was drowning, drowning, drowning.

It took nearly thirty minutes for her to calm down and talk to Percy.

"Do you want to talk to me about what's going on?" His tone was soothing like the trickle of creek water running over smooth rocks.

"Everything's wrong, Percy. My dad just told me he's moving to California. I don't have anywhere to stay, but my mom's. I don't want to stay with her, Percy. She makes me feel like crap all the time. My grades are falling faster than I can catch up. I have a 78 in physics right now and last quarter I had a 99. My guidance counselor's been trying to ask me if I'm okay and honestly I don't know. And now Luke broke up with me." She talked rapidly with more tears threatening in each word.

It was clear to Percy just how distressed his best friend was. Usually the situation was reversed, usually Annabeth was the rational one doing the calming, but this time that was Percy's job.

"Okay one thing at a time. You can always stay with my mom and I at our apartment. You know how much my mom loves you and we have an extra room that's just used for storage right now. Okay?"

Annabeth gave a silent nod.

"Now what's up with your grades?"

Annabeth heaved a sigh.

"I just don't feel like trying anymore. I can't concentrate in class like I used to and I don't even care anymore. I'm so tired."

"Annabeth." Percy held her hand, his thumb ran across the back of it in slow circles.

"I don't know what to do."

"That doesn't sound like the Annabeth I know. The one with the plan and all the determination."

She snorted.

"That Annabeth was killed by the reality of high school."

"Look, I think you should make a plan. Set some goals for yourself and talk to your guidance counselor. I want to help you so much Annabeth, but I just don't think I'm the right person for this. Right now we're on break so grades should be the least of your worries."

She nodded. She knew Percy didn't have the best advice for school when it was normally him asking for help. It was more responsible of him to have a professional help her with her falling grades than himself, and Annabeth recognized that. Percy would always help where he could.

"Yea, I guess so."

"And Luke?" Percy's tone was a little quieter, a little softer.

Annabeth looked at Percy, really looked at him. She drunk in his features. The tuft of hair that always laid in the opposite direction as the rest of his hair. The way his eyelashes dipped over his green eyes and the sparse freckles that sprinkled his tanned face. She didn't know what she would do without her best friend.

"We had a fight."

Percy quirked an eyebrow.

"One fight ended things for good?"

By now both Annabeth and Percy were laying on their sides, atop the roof, facing each other and holding hands. Any outsider would have thought they were a couple, not just best friends as they had always labeled themselves.

"Yea…" Annabeth trailed off, destroying the eye contact between the pair.

"Yea?"

"It wasn't terribly bad, but it was final. We've had the same argument before… But it's never really affected things this much, obviously. I guess I knew it was coming to an end, but it's just so weird. I can't think of not being with him, but it also feels so much more natural now that we're apart. I'm just feeling so overwhelmed by all the changes in my life. Sometimes it feels like you're the only constant."

Percy nodded, he understood Annabeth even if what she was saying was contradictory. She was his constant too.

"Do you want to talk about what you had been fighting about?"

Annabeth smirked a little, bringing her eyes to his.

"Not today. I think I just need a break right now from my problems."

"Okay."

Annabeth gave Percy's hand a squeeze.

She was more at peace now. Her problems weren't gone, but the tidal wave had receded for now. Her outburst seemed so distant even if it was so close. The brief talk had helped to clear her mind just as she needed. Of course she'd have to revisit everything, but at that moment she was content with just being with her best friend. Her best friend that was more than the world to her.


	12. Seeing is Not Always Believing

The metal handle was cool in her grasp. She felt its chill crawling its way millimeter by millimeter into her fingers and down her palm.

Tears were brimming in her eyes, almost at the brink of falling down. She would not let them fall. She would not give them the satisfaction. She would not feel their salty warmth roll down in streams on her cheeks. Besides, it would only be her fault if they did.

Why was she doing this to herself anyways? Why did she bring this kind of torture on herself? It's not like anything would ever change. She'd be blind for the rest of her life and that was an irreversible fact.

She brushed her fingertips over the glass, tenderly feeling the mirror as if it were a precious diamond. The comforter sunk in where she sat on their bed. Honestly, Percy could walk in at any second and see her like this. See her so weak. She knew that if he saw her like this he'd just try to make it better, but maybe that's what she wanted anyways.

Annabeth thought she was staring at the mirror, hoping so desperately that she was. She sent the inanimate object one of her death glares and was slightly disappointed to not feel it wither and shrink in her hands. She wanted to make it feel the pain she felt.

She adjusted to being blind fairly quickly, her hearing improved and she could still wield her dagger like no other, but at times like these being sightless just got to her. She wanted to know what she looked like, what her friends looked like. She wanted to see if she had any new scars and if one year had aged her any. All she would ever know now was what she looked like at 17. She'd never know how she would look in her 30s or how gray her hair would get at 80. She never even realized what a gift sight was and she wished she just hadn't been born with it at all. At least that was her thought process- you can't miss something if you never had it.

Annabeth didn't even realize she was crying until a tear splashed on her hands.

"Annabeth?" A hoarse whisper came from the doorway.

She jumped a little and threw the mirror quickly to the other side of the bed. She brushed away any tears that could have been there. She cursed herself for getting distracted and not taking care to hear if Percy was coming.

"Oh. Hi, Percy." Annabeth tried her best to act casual and not allow her voice to sound as watery as she thought it did.

Percy's footsteps creaked on the wooden floorboards making their way towards the blond. Calloused hands gripped Annabeth's equally cracked ones.

"What were you doing?" His voice was laced with so much concern and so much love it almost hurt to hear it.

She took a deep shaky breath. Silence expanded out between the two, draping itself all around the cozy bedroom.

A few more seconds ticked by in agony.

"Can I ask you something." Her voice sounded raw like she hadn't spoken a word in years or as if she'd been screaming in a sandy desert.

"Yea, of course." Percy's voice was soft so,so soft. He was leaning in close to Annabeth eyeing the mirror in the side of his view. His breath tickled her skin with the lightness of a feather.

"Will you describe what I look like?" Annabeth could feel herself cringing as she asked that. It felt so pathetic, she had adjusted to being blind and had even accepted it. Yet here she was still having moments of vulnerability.

Percy let out a hot breath before continuing. He never saw Annabeth as weak, not even once. He wished her pride would stop stopping her from realizing her strength and realize it was okay to show a little weakness. Having weakness didn't mean that one wasn't strong, it meant they were human.

"Well your hair is a bit shorter and you haven't brushed it in a few days." Annabeth's cheeks grew a little warm at that, but Percy quickly added on "But I like it like that. And it still makes you look like a princess and I have to restrict myself from playing with your blonde curls."

Annabeth laughed at that. Percy hardly restricted himself, nine times out of ten his fingers were woven in a lock of her hair.

"And, gods, your beautiful." He rested his forehead against hers and she crawled into his lap.

"Yea?" She gulped a little.

"More beautiful than Aphrodite." His finger traced the bottom of her lip.

"Careful what yous say there."

"It's only the truth."

"Thank you." She whispered. She meant it so much. More than he'd know.

Maybe it was a little hard at this moment, but she'd be okay. Sight or no sight Annabeth was fine. With Percy right next to her she didn't need a mirror to torture herself. She didn't need to see herself when she was loved like this.


	13. The Fiction of the Stars

They say there were once stars up high in the sky, twinkling like diamonds

The book in Annabeth's hands was worn and ancient, its pages crinkled beneath her palms. She was afraid if she turned one page just a sliver too wrong then the whole book would crumble into ashes and dust. There were pictures and drawings in it of tiny white dots. They formed patterns and shapes in the inky blue night sky.

Stars.

That's what they were called on the yellowing pages in the faded black print. The word felt foreign on her tongue. She had never heard of stars. They seemed magical, like a fairy tale in one of her younger brothers' books.

Stars.

It was such a whimsical word.

She looked up into her own dark sky. It was blank, nothing but an empty abyss with a slight shimmer of silver from the crescent moon. The moon was the only beacon in the sky, stealing the spotlight from any others. There were no such thing as stars.

She felt the cool, dewy night grass on the back of her bare legs. She laid down in it, soaking in the earthen smells of soil and freshness. Her yellow ringlets curled around her frame, waving out and in from her body in an angelic halo.

She hugged the book to her chest, the blue, old leather cracked and soft. She had stumbled across the book in a restricted section of the local library, where the books from the other times were located. Where the books meant only for government officials were kept. At the moment Annabeth didn't have a care about all the trouble she could get in for harboring the forgotten treasure. She had learned of stars that flooded the skies in blazes of light and eternalness during the other times.

A blissful smile danced across her face. A smooth summer's breeze flowed across her cotton pajamas, through every pore of her body whistling in her being. She yearned to see the stars in her lifetime. They were one of her last great desires. She wanted to show the world the beauty of them. Show every last person what they were missing from this world, show them how the ancient people hid away diamonds in their sky.

She couldn't wait to tell Percy about them in the morning. He'd keep her secret. He'd awe at them. He'd see how they were the most vital thing they'd never have. He'd see how she would die without witnessing their miracle and would go to heaven itself to bring her them. Percy would bring her the stars.

They never moved and never failed to shine, the cloudiest of nights couldn't resist their penetration

Her and Percy sat in a field of drying hay, all color drained from everything. The ground was dead. The sky was dead. The trees and water were dead. Sadness captured everything in her net of sorrow and refused without mercy to release her prisoners.

Not a single soul was around them for miles. The vast space made the setting almost intimate.

Annabeth's leg brushed his, a touch as light as the flutter of a butterfly's wings. He looked over at her, staring at her gray eyes alight with energy, bursting to share something unknown to him.

"What's up?" He asked in the voice reserved only for her, his best friend. It pained him that she wasn't more. A dull ache that never ebbed away made permanent residence in his heart, constricting all his muscles when he looked at her, when he thought of her. The slope of her nose was perfect, the pinkish rouge of her lips was perfect, the way she opened her mouth when in deep thought was perfect. She was perfect.

She looked at him, biting back a smile.

"I have to show you something." The way she said it made it seem like something dangerous and wonderful, meant only for him. Only for her. Only for them.

She pulled her canvas bag so it laid in between the two. It was the same canvas bag he had gotten her years ago for a birthday. It was nothing special, practically everyone had a canvas bag these days, it was essential to everyday life. But hers was different than the rest. Hers had her name embroidered in dainty silver thread along the handle. An owl winked up at them on the side, patterned in paisley.

Out of the old thing, she pulled an even older thing. It was a book, a big heavy, navy blue bound book. The cover was engraved with swirls and twirls of gone away gold. Her delicate fingers ran their way along the cover, gently feeling it beneath her skin.

The brush of her fingers over the book was equivalent to that of feeling a heartbeat. There was something so powerful in the moment, a force at play that couldn't be fathomed by the human mind.

Percy took it into his own, much larger and calloused hands.

"What is it?" He whispered. The moment felt too fragile to use a voice any louder.

"It's a book." Annabeth said, serious as ever.

Percy chuckled, still quiet, not breaking the aura around them.

"I got that, Chase. I meant, what's in it?" He looked at her again and she brought herself closer to him, finding comfort in his warmth despite the heat of the July day. Her head rested on his shoulder, blonde hair falling over his back. Percy sighed contently.

"Open it." She whispered through a gleeful, childlike smile.

He cautiously opened the book. His brow furrowed in confusion. He couldn't make any sense of the pictures in the book, of the dots and the lines, of the diagrams and graphs.

"What is it?" His voice was louder now, if only by a fraction.

"Constellations." She looked at him, expectant, as if the unfamiliar word cleared everything up.

"Constellations?"

She nodded giddily. She was sharing the secret with him. She was sharing the secret with the most important person in her life.

"They're made up of stars. Stars, Percy."

"What are stars?"

Annabeth went into a happy ramble about the objects that once shone in the night sky during the other times. She told him of the stories behind them and the studies that went into them. She told of how they were thousands and millions miles away, yet could still be seen from this little point on Earth.

"They were the most beautiful things to ever exist, Percy. Nothing could trump the stars." She sighed closing her eyes, trying to create an image of what it would look like at midnight during the other times. It would look glorious, she decided.

"I'm not so sure about the most beautiful." Percy said to himself, eyeing his best friend out of the corner of his eyes. Nothing could be more beautiful than Annabeth Chase. Not even the stars.

The stars were a legend, a puzzle for the human mind to never solve

Annabeth was sobbing. Percy held her not sure what the cause of her pain was, her cries made her speech incoherent. He rubbed soothing circles into her back as she soaked his shirt in salty trails.

"Shh, Annabeth. Just breath and tell me what happened." He kept his voice low and soft in an attempt to comfort her further.

She took in a sharp breath, pulling slightly away from his tight grip. She looked at him with watery eyes that were lined with bright red.

A moment of silence passed between the duo.

"They took the book." Her haunted whisper was so quiet, Percy barely managed to hear it.

"Oh, Annabeth." He pulled her back into a hug, resting his chin on her head as she cried further. He felt her heart ache in his own chest with the grievance of a lost loved one. That book had been her sun for the past weeks. It was bound at her hip and as much apart of her as her stunning gray eyes.

She pulled away for a second time, wiping furiously at her eyes. Even her voice was watery when she spoke.

"Government officials came to my house and confiscated the book. I didn't get in trouble, but they warned me not to share the information in it with anyone. I told them about you, they were really nice about everything. But I loved that book, Percy. I loved it so much." She cried again.

Percy held her there for a time he couldn't count. It felt like an eternity of agony. He stayed there with her until dusk had fallen and Annabeth had to return home.

And one day they disappeared into oblivion, the dawn of a new age arising with their fall

It was a week since the book was taken away. A week since Annabeth fell into a pit of misery. The light had been taken out of her eyes just like the stars had been from the sky.

Percy had her on the phone and although she tried to fake cheerfulness, it was all too clear to hear the lingering of heartbreak in her hoarse voice.

"Hey, Annabeth." Percy's voice sounded tentative, like he was on the verge of something big.

"Yea, Percy?" Her voice was the meadow on a lovely spring day. Percy could never get tired of her voice.

"Can you come over? I have something to show you."

A pause and a breath.

"I'll be there in ten." She breathed out as a click of the phone followed.

A knock on the wooden door brought Percy to his feet. He opened it to see Annabeth standing there in a yellow sundress. It fell just above her knee and was covered in intricate embroidery. Percy saw flowers and leaves, trees and spirals sewed into the flattering fabric.

He blocked her view into the house.

"Hi." A grin spread across his face.

"Hi?" She laughed, wondering what he was so happy about.

"I have a surprise. But you need to close our eyes." The goofy grin never left his face.

She gave him a weird look, but agreed anyways.

He lead her into his house and through the rooms while holding her hand. Her eyes were squinted tight, ensuring she didn't see a thing. They stumbled as they made their way to Percy's surprise and laughed at their missteps.

Suddenly, they came to a halt. Annabeth tripped forward a little, but Percy quickly caught her. Her eyes still remained closed.

"Okay, now open." Percy whispered right into her ear, his breath tickling her skin.

She obeyed and what she saw made her gasp in awe.

Hanging from the ceiling were stars made of mirrors, reflecting the golden morning light in a perfect vision. She felt her breath taken away by the beauty. The room was empty, leaving only the stars to make a statement.

They were strung from all different lengths, spinning in slow circles in their own secret dance. She reached out and touched one, feeling the cool glass between her fingertips.

She turned around to see Percy, waiting anxiously for her response. She tackled him into a hug, warm tears running down her cheeks.

"Thank you." She said into his chest.

"You don't even know the best part."

Annabeth looked up at him, "What?"

"Go look at them again. Look into them." He nudged her forward, with a small smile on his lips.

She did what she was told, but didn't understand.

"I just see me, Percy. They're made of mirrors." Her confusion wavered in her words.

He came up behind her, wrapping her into a hug.

"You once told me the stars were the most beautiful things ever to exist, but I disagree."

"Percy…" She was hesitant, pretending not to know where this was going.

"I think you're the most beautiful thing ever, Annabeth. The only way the stars could compete would be if they held your image." He looked at her with a seriousness Annabeth had never seen before.

She turned around to fully face him.

"Percy." She sighed before bringing them into a kiss.

It was slow and deep, every ounce riddled with the love of a lifetime upon a lifetime.

Percy had brought her the stars, just like she said he would. He had brought her the love of a thousand bright night skies. And in return she had brought him her own love. A love that was the strength of a million suns and a billion stars.


	14. The Fiction of Earth

The hum of the engine was always present as a soft, monotonous purr. No one ever noticed the faint ring it brought to their ears, it was a sense they all grew into like the scent of their section. It was so regular, so normal and insignificant that it wasn't even the least bit noticeable.

Annabeth always noticed it. She would daze off in her classes, especially the language class she was in right now, just listening to its sweet, comforting sound. The sound was her best friend, it followed her everywhere and always moved through her. It was the most dependable thing she knew.

Mr. Berkley, her language teacher, was droning on about all the dead languages they had to learn about it. He was the most boring teacher and taught the most boring class. His hair mimicked the whiskers of a just born kit and his monochrome suit blended in with the tiresome walls. His deep voice only seemed to whisper the word sleep. On top of all that he taught the only class not actually required in the curriculum, but required by the school- dead languages.

Annabeth understood why the school wanted to teach dead languages, it was insightful to the development of the language they spoke now, but she didn't understand why it was necessary. Honestly, they could just have it as an elective. Though no one would take it, she supposed.

"Annabeth, will you please answer my question?" Mr. Berkley asked with an eyebrow raised, knowing exactly what he was doing.

She hated him. She hated him so much.

Annabeth put on a ginger smile, her lips pressed tight together in pure annoyance.

"I'm sorry, may you repeat it?" Her voice was cleverly polite with a fortunate touch of innocence as if she really had been paying attention and not daydreaming.

Mr. Berkley narrowed his eyes and proceeded to clear his throat.

"I suppose so, Miss Chase. The question I proposed was, 'How did the syncretism of French and English lead to the development of Euragen?'" He looked at her, arms crossed over his stocky chest, toe tapping as he waited.

Annabeth racked her brain, but nothing came to. The class began to murmur, a buzz of voices going back and forth from friend to friend. They, like her, were terribly tired of this class. They jumped like scavengers at any time to communicate with another.

"Settle down children and let Miss Chase answer the question." He said as the buzz became a dull roar and his voice became sly with a sick satisfaction of knowing he beat his student. Annabeth struggled to keep her eyes from rolling.

In a sugary voice she answered the question, "I'm so terribly sorry, Mr. Berkley, but you have to see that I do not care about this class in any fiber of my being. You teach dead languages, sir, and I can see why- you are almost dead yourself, might as well make yourself feel more at home. Am I correct? Sir?" She feigned innocence with a tilt of her head and a snake's glint in her eye.

The teacher's face bloomed the red of a ripe tomato. Mr. Berkley was normally calm and a quiet man, but people like Annabeth Chase knew just what buttons to push to cause an explosion.

"Get out of my classroom right now and go to your section!" He barked, saliva streaming from his lips onto the metallic desk.

Annabeth looked at the droplets in exaggerated disgust.

"Trust me, I was already on my way."

She heard a chuckle behind her, deep and low with just a hint of sultry. She bit back the grin that started to creep its way on her face. She stood in the middle of the hallway with its plush carpet flooring, the handle of her gray tote beginning to dig into the crevice of her shoulder. She remembered when he got her the canvas bag for her birthday. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"What did you do this time, Wise Girl?" She heard his smirk in every word he spoke. He was contagious.

"Told off Mr. Berkley. Finally." She turned around to face him.

"Yes, finally."

They grinned at each other, big and brilliant. Their faces glowed with an ethereal happiness.

She jumped into his arm, his arms wrapping around her small frame. He held her to him as if she'd float away far out of reach if he were to let go.

"I can't believe you're back. It feels like it's been so long." She said, nearly crying. Okay, crying, but Annabeth would never admit that to anyone. She was just so, so ecstatic to finally see Percy again. He'd been gone for three months this time. That was six weeks longer than last time and she just didn't want to see him go anymore. She breathed in his scent. He smelled like home.

"Oh my gods I missed you." And then she finally broke. She'd been so worried about him and that he wouldn't come back. She'd been so worried when he told her he'd be gone for three months. She'd been just so worried.

He squeezed her tighter as her sobs came harder.

"Hey, hey, hey. Annabeth it's okay. I'm right here. Right now, I'm here." He told her in a soothing tone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She said backing up to look at him. She wiped the tears out of her vision and put on a shaky smile. "I know this must be hard on you too."

They stood there for a silent moment.

"Come on inside." Percy's voice was soft and he took her by the hand into his apartment.

They settled into the lumpy couch. Annabeth nestled into him, drinking in his essence. She didn't know how long he'd be here until they called him back to Earth.

She remembered when things were normal. Well at least more normal than living on a spaceship. She remembered that day over a year ago when her and Percy sat in the dying field and she showed him the book with stars. That was a lifetime ago. Everything changed since then.

She sighed, longing for the days when everything seemed perfect. When Percy brought her the stars.

"What are you thinking about?" Percy hummed a tune similar to the engine. His fingers played idly in her hair.

She looked up at him through strands of blonde.

"Do you remember when I found that book? With the stars in it? And you… you brought them to me. You gave me the stars and you kissed me. I just knew how much you loved me then. I knew how much I loved you." Her voice began to grow watery. The past year had been so hard. Hard on everyone.

"How could I forget? You loved that book more than anything. You thought they were so beautiful." He chuckled a little, trying to lighten the mood.

"Do you remember when they evacuated everyone? They had this plan for years and didn't tell anyone." Her voice was haunted.

"Every minute I'm on Earth I remember." Something inside him hardened, Annabeth all too aware of it.

"Has there been any improvements? When's the next time you'll be called down?" Annabeth asked, anxiety trickling into her voice.

Percy, her Percy was right here with her. And she knew better than anyone that he could be taken away at any moment. The mere seconds with him were more precious than anything the universe could birth.

Percy sighed, barely audible, so Annabeth knew he was trying to contain it. Gods, she thought, he looked so tired. Annabeth had never seen such deep lines etched into his tan skin. It didn't surprise her, though. She had researched as much as she could about the expeditions being sent back to Earth and it wasn't a walk in a meadow. Hard physical labor was need and even greater mental tenacity… seeing the way Earth was left barren, a hopeless desert which had once been such a magnificent and deep sea.

And then there was the longing to go back. Nostalgia and heartbreak teased the heartstrings of many, making the longing for the now gone, familiar home unbearable.

Annabeth foolishly wished for the days when stars of glass hung from her ceiling and the most gentlest of kisses fluttered on her lips, bestowing on her the gift of love.

Though… sometimes she thought that same love might be a curse.

Percy interrupted her spew of thoughts in response to her question.

"No," He said with a small shake of his head, looking every bit as devastated as he should have been.

"You didn't answer my second question." She said after a beat; her voice was the ghost of a whisper, treading in deep, deep water, but too fatigued to keep upright.

"That's because I don't want to." Percy's voice mirrored the same trepidation.

For a moment, a long eternal moment that held infinite other moments, silence passed.

"The draft isn't fair." Annabeth was fiddling with the hem of Percy's shirt not daring to look at his face. If she so much as glanced at the withered and drought painted on the landscape that was his skin, then she was certain she'd break and spill things meant to be contained. At least for now.

Percy huffed a laugh riddled with a peculiar despair.

"Someone has to clean up after their mistakes. Luckily no accidents have happened in a while. The new improvements of the suits have kept everyone safe from the radiation."

"There shouldn't even be that risk. You should have a choice."

For the second time that day, Percy sighed, only this time he didn't try to conceal it.

"You know I'll always come back, right? We'll always be together." Percy said, his voice more assured than it was mere moments ago.

Annabeth wanted to first respond that he couldn't make such reckless promises without much support backing them, but then she remembered.

She remembered the bliss of a life lost in the twists of time.

"Yes. You brought me the stars." It was enough confirmation for Percy and he bent his head down to press a kiss to Annabeth's lips.

She savored the moment, knowing that kissing Percy with such slow tentativeness was a luxury. Her and Percy did not have all the time they needed or wanted. They didn't have the endless hours to express only a fraction of their love for each other. But that kiss sure felt like it.

Together, they had gone through it all.

They had discovered the stars and they let them burn bright.


	15. The Marks Love Leaves

When Sally Jackson had given birth to her baby boy she wasn't surprised to find a faded blue trident shaped symbol on her son's right wrist. The very tip of the shape reached almost to the palm of his hand and the base stopped at the middle of his forearm, right besides a dark brown freckle.

His father, Poseidon as he was nicknamed, had had a symbol similar to his, though it was located on the back of his hand and was the prongs were a stormy green that twisted around each other like a whirlwind of design. Sally had worn that symbol for years, but it faded to only a faint outline when her beloved never returned from a trip at sea.

Her own symbol started just behind her left ear and worked its way all the way down to her collar bone with twists and curves lacing down the back of her neck. It was a string of royal blue beads that was so lovely and delicate, and so very interesting to look at. Her symbol was strong and prominent, nothing like her son's light one.

His symbol was just as interesting as her own. It was marbled with fainter and fainter blues. It's edges glowed in minty rays. It was beautiful. No other word could describe it.

Sally knew something so beautiful should be cherished. She knew that whoever was to wear her son's symbol would be as beautiful as it, if not more. She knew her little Percy was going to have a love so radiant it would withstand anything, even being lost at sea.

The first day of third grade Percy met what would be his life long best friend.

She was the only student in the room that hadn't laughed at him as he struggled to read a simple line of text from a first grade reading level book.

Heat was simmering in his cheeks, red crawling through every inch of his face. It was embarrassing enough that the words jumped off the page and twisted and turned so he couldn't make sense of them in their floating state, but to have to read those words aloud to a whole classroom was torture in itself.

He felt hot pricks in the back of his eyes, tears threatening to come when he saw the blonde across the room give him a determined nod of her head as if to say "keep going, you're doing fine."

He gave a slight motion of his head and continued to stumble and stammer over the current paragraph. When his turn was over he breathed a much needed sigh of relief and flashed the girl a friendly smile in thanks. He hadn't cried reading and he owed her much for that with her small encouragement.

After class she approached him with perfect poise.

"Annabeth Chase." She greeted him with a firm handshake like a business woman thrice her age. Her gray eyes did not linger for a millisecond off of Percy's own green eyes.

"Percy Jackson." Percy mumbled back after the shock of the formal greeting wore off. "Thanks for not laughing at me." Percy added on

Annabeth cocked her head.

"Why would I laugh? I can't read either."

This took a moment for Percy to process because she seemed so smart it was hard to believe she had the same problems as Percy.

He was going to say something else when Annabeth began to say something about how it was nice to make "acquaintances" with each other, though Percy hadn't a clue what the word even meant when his mind wandered off.

He got lost in her brewing eyes and how the steels and charcoals danced around and around as the fluorescent school lights flickered.

"Percy!" The young girl snapped.

He shook his head to rid himself of the distraction.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked for your home phone number so my father can call your parents so we could get together over this weekend. I mean, if that's okay with you." She said a slight red starting to tint her cheeks.

Percy nodded happily, oblivious to Annabeth's minor embarrassment and scribbled his phone number on a scrap piece of paper (it took him 10 minutes to get the order right, but when he did, he was very satisfied).

"Yeah! You should come over my house, my mom makes the best blue cookies!" Percy's face split into a massive grin and his eyes went starry at the thought of his mother's cookies.

Annabeth scrunched her little nose.

"Blue cookies?" She said with a favorable amount of distaste.

Percy nodded enthusiastically.

"They're super awesome!"

Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again as a silver Lexus approached the parent pick-up station in which the duo was standing.

"Well that's my dad. I'll see you soon!" With that Annabeth waved good bye and skipped to the car, lilac lace dress bouncing around her.

It was only then that Percy noticed a symbol on her ankle, but before he got to see what it was, she had already gotten the car door closed.

—–

The first time Percy and Annabeth hung out together was at Percy's small apartment. True to his word, Percy's mom, Sally, made blue chocolate chip cookies.

Annabeth held the cookie in her hand a safe distance away from the rest of her body.

"Are you sure these are okay to eat? It's not poisonous, right?" Annabeth asked inspecting the cookie, turning it over and over and over.

Sally laughed from her spot on the couch in the other room. She looked up from her book to see Percy taking a gigantic bite from his own cookie.

"See? All good." Percy said through a mouthful of food which made Annabeth scrunch her face in disgust.

Sally chuckled to herself.

"Percy." Sally said in a reprimanding tone. "It's not polite to talk with your mouth full in the company of a lady."

Percy was about to speak again, but with one look from his mother chewed the cookie thoroughly and gave an over exaggerated swallow to show he was done.

"Sorry mom!" Percy said with a bright, childish smile.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Annabeth."

Percy turned in his chair so he was facing Annabeth once more.

"Sorry, Annabeth" He said in a more gentle tone.

"It's okay." She giggled.

They didn't know it at the time, but they'd have many more times like this. Always they hung out at Percy's house. Annabeth's dad was hardly ever home so it was just the nanny to occupy the very, very large home. Annabeth preferred the Jackson's much more than the blonde hair, uptight nanny she was stuck with daily.

—–

The second time Annabeth came over to the Jackson's, Percy asked about her symbol.

"Oh, you mean my owl?" Annabeth asked innocently.

"Yea! I saw it on your ankle one day after school. I have a trident. It's a lot like my dad's symbol. At least that's what my mom said. I never meant my dad though. He's lost at sea and-" Percy never got to finish what he was saying when Annabeth interrupted.

"Percy, you asked me about my symbol." She said with slight annoyance, she loved to talk about her symbol. It was something she was extremely proud of with it's elegant shimmery wings and how the owl looked as though it was in flight.

"Oh, yea!" Percy's enthusiasm wasn't the least bit deflated.

Annabeth rolled up the jeans to just above her ankle. Her legs were skinny making her ankles even skinnier and very knobby. The bones bulged at awkward ankles waiting for more weight to be added.

"See, it's an owl. A barn owl to be specific. It looks like it's in flight and if I move my foot the right way the wings will look like they're flapping." To prove her point she began shaking her ankle in a funny dance.

Percy couldn't take his eyes of the design. She was right about it looking like it was flying. The wings seemed to ever so slightly swing up and down as if it were going to fly right off her ankle into the starry night sky. He was so purely mesmerized by it. The color, well colors of the owl were exact to the shades in Annabeth's eyes. The owl had large mechanical eyes with iris shaped like metal gears. It was very fascinating.

"Did you know owls are the symbol of Athena? She's the Greek goddess of wisdom. They called my mom Athena because of her owl symbol. I don't know what it looked like. She died after having me. I guess it's a lot like you and your dad." Annabeth said bringing Percy out of her state.

"Do you want to see my symbol?" Percy asked with huge eyes. Annabeth always had interesting facts to share with him. She was much smarter than the average nine year old.

Annabeth giggled.

"What?" Percy asked defensively.

"I see your symbol everyday, Seaweed Brain." She explained and it was true. Percy's symbol was right out in the open for anyone's eyes. The only time you couldn't see it was if he was wearing long sleeves and that was hardly ever.

"Seaweed Brain?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded as if the simple gesture was enough to answer the question.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl." Percy shrugged in response, knowing his nickname for her was much lamer than her's for him.

"So are you gonna show me your symbol or what?" Annabeth asked after silently approving the nickname she had been given. It wasn't too bad in all honesty.

"I thought you said you see it everyday."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Well you can still show it to me."

So Percy did. Annabeth inspected the blue trident just like she did the cookie.

"Yours is very light." Annabeth remarked.

"I know."

At that moment Sally walked into the room the kids were playing in with a bowl of chips for the pair to snack on.

"What are you two rascals talking about?" Sally asked placing the chips on the floor and then sitting down between the two.

"Our symbols!" Percy said happily, scooting over to be closer to his mom.

"Oh?" Sally raised an eyebrow. "Do you guys know the story of our symbols?"

Annabeth shook her head along with Percy.

"Well come closer and I'll tell you guys." The kids inched closer so they were huddled around Sally, impatiently waiting for her to get on with the story.

"When a person is born they have a special symbol on some part of their body that is unique to just them." Percy and Annabeth nodded, they already knew this part.

"When that person grows up and has the chance to fall in love another symbol will appear on their body. The symbol of the one they love. Now this new symbol might fade over time if their love weakens or the other dies, but it will never go away because one cannot completely eradicate love. See the trident on the palm of my left hand?" Sally pointed to the symbol with her other hand. "This was the symbol of Percy's father. Ever since he was lost at sea it began fading, but it's still there just like my love is for him." Sally said noticing the interest and delight in the faces of the two. She was glad the story kept them entertained, it could be hard to do that with two ADHD kids.

"That was beautiful." Annabeth whispered, wondering who's symbol she would carry someday.

—–

Percy and Annabeth had been inseparable for most of their lives. Throughout the years of their friendship they had multiple sleepovers, Disney movie marathons, water balloon fights, and late night talks about what they were going to do in the future and classmates they really, really didn't like.

Annabeth became a constant resident at the Jackson household. After her father married her nanny and they had twins when Annabeth was ten she liked to spend even less time at her home than when her nanny was just her nanny and not her step-mother.

Sally became like a mother figure in her own right. She took Annabeth on shopping trips when her dad was away for business, rented chick flicks and popped popcorn for girl nights in, and helped Annabeth in any way she needed as she grew up.

Though once they hit high school the sleepovers became less frequent, there were no new movies to watch, and both of them always had an overload of homework. Their friendship was slightly strained, but nothing they couldn't get passed.

It was the middle of sophomore year and the duo was lounging on Percy's bed. Annabeth had her feet across Percy's lap, Percy had his eyes locked on the screen of his phone, brow furrowed in concentration as he played a new app, and Annabeth had her head nose deep in a book.

Annabeth put down the surprisingly heavy paperback and blew a tuft of hair out of her eye. Both her and Percy were sixteen now, both had their driver's license, and both still were dazzled by their symbols.

"So, I was talking to Rachel today." Annabeth started.

Rachel was one of their good friends they met in eighth grade. She was a mellow girl, extremely talented in art and had a head of fiery red curls. Her symbol was a larger green, blue, and red splatter on her right cheek covering some of the mass of freckles that scattered across her face.

"Mm-hmm." Percy said not really listening.

Annabeth kicked him lightly in the ribs to grab his attention.

"Hey, listen to me, Seaweed Brain."

Percy exited out of the game, shut his phone off, and looked up at his best friend whom was still resting her long legs on him.

"What is it, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth finally sat up from her position and instead sat cross legged on the black, cotton comforter.

"As I was saying, I talked to Rachel today." Annabeth said twiddling her thumbs.

"What about Rachel?" Percy propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Annabeth with some suspicion. Percy had a bit of a feeling that Rachel might just like him and not in just a "friend" way.

"She was talking about Homeocming coming up. You should ask her to go with. You guys could double date with me and Luke." Annabeth said trying to sound nonchalant, but failing at doing so.

That was another thing that happened, Annabeth started dating a boy in the grade above him. His name was Luke Castellan and she started dating him in her freshman year. Percy wasn't so sure how he felt about that.

He sighed, "I don't know, Annabeth. I don't like her like that and I really don't want her to get the wrong idea. She's one of my good friends."

Annabeth let out a defeated breath.

"I figured you'd say that. She really likes you, you know? You should give her a shot. You haven't even ever had a girlfriend." Annabeth said.

"Yea well maybe I haven't found the right person yet." Percy looked at Annabeth. The way he looked at her so… meaningful made Annabeth a bit uncomfortable. His sea-green eyes were a window to his being and Annabeth refused to look through.

She shifted in her seat, "Taking her to homecoming would still be nice."

—–

Percy ended up not even going to homecoming, but instead stayed in with his mom and watched reruns of their favorite sow together. So when he got a call from a sobbing and practically incoherent Annabeth saying she was on her way over he was already up getting out a pair of pajamas for her and anxiously pacing in front of the door.

A small, weak knock came from the front door and Percy immediately leaped to swing it open. Standing there in her gold sequined dress, blonde curls falling everywhere was Annabeth with tear stains and tears still flooding from her eyes. Despite all that she still looked beautiful, at least to Percy anyways.

Percy pulled her right into a hug, she gripped his gray sweatshirt and sobbed into his shoulder. He rested his chin on the crown of her head and rubbed soothing circles into her back.

"What's wrong, Wise Girl?" It pained Percy to ask the question so much that it came out in a hoarse whisper. He never wanted to see Annabeth upset like this.

"L-Luke." Annabeth blubbered out. She felt Percy's grip tighten his grip on her, his large biceps filling with tension.

She pulled back from him and shook her head rapidly.

"No! Percy it's not like that! It's not his fault." She didn't sound like she was lying, but the tears told him otherwise.

"What did he do?" Percy asked softly.

Annabeth sighed tiredly.

"Can we go to your room?"

Percy nodded and led her to his room. They sat on the same bed that they sat on just days ago when they were talking about Rachel and double dating and everything was good.

"Do you want to talk?" Percy asked in that same soft, soothing tone.

Annabeth waited a moment to respond, gathering up courage she barely had.

"He- He had someone else's symbol on him." She said, suppressing tears.

"Oh, Annabeth." Percy pulled her into another tight hug.

She curled into his side still shaking with sobs.

When her cries began to cease she pulled herself from Percy like letting go of an anchor.

Wiping at her eyes to dry them she said, "I'm not mad at him. I know one can't help who they fall in love with. I just wish he told me sooner."

"Me too, Annabeth. Me too." Percy said placing a kiss atop her head.

—–

It was one more day until Percy and Annabeth started their junior year of school. They were both seventeen now and many of their classmates dawned a symbol that wasn't their own.

The pair found themselves lounging on Percy's bed like they've done so many times before. It seemed that the most important moments and conversations happened on his black comforter.

The scene was just like that day in their sophomore year when Annabeth suggested that Percy ask Rachel to homecoming. Annabeth was laying across Percy, Percy had his eyes glued to the screen of his phone, and Annabeth had her nose in a book. They were comfortable like this.

Percy looked up from his screen.

"Hey, Annabeth." He said.

"Yea?" She didn't look up from her book and her eyes continued to flick across the worn and yellow pages.

"No, I need you to listen to me." He said, letting her know that what he was about to say was important.

She put down the book, moving her flowered book mark between the pages she was on and locked her gray eyes onto his green.

"What is it, Percy?"

He breathed in a little then said, "I'm not doing swim this year."

Annabeth was shocked. Percy loved the swim team, heck his favorite activity was swimming. It was hard to even get him out of the water once he was in it. But now that Annabeth thought about it… She didn't remember going swimming once this year with him. It had always been with her other friends like Rachel or Hazel or Piper. Never with Percy.

"Why? You love swimming and you're the best on the team." She was still in a state of shock, Percy would never quit the swim team. It had to be a prank, but he didn't sound like he was lying…

Percy casually shrugged.

"I don't know. I just don't think it's for me."

Annabeth knew he was lying by the way his words wobbled slightly. She wondered why he was keeping the real reason from her.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain. Don't try to lie to me. What's the real reason you're quitting?"

In the blink of an eye Percy took a defensive position. He cleared his face of emotion so it was a blank slate and hunched his shoulders forward.

"I'm not lying. I just don't want to do it, okay?" His voice took on a fierce edge warning Annabeth she was treading into a danger zone.

She shrugged, trying to keep things from escalating as she knew they could with Percy.

"Alright if you don't want to tell me the real reason, you don't have to." She said, picked up her book and continued reading.

Percy grunted and went back to playing his app.

The atmosphere in the room was no longer comfortable like before, but was filled with traces of awkwardness neither of them could deny.

—–

Annabeth had been on her way home from the debate club meeting when she remembered she had accidentally forgotten her winter coat at Percy's the other day. She figured she'd just stop over and grab it, knowing it was supposed to get cold that night and she had to grocery shopping for her family in the morning.

It was midterm week of their senior year and since Annabeth had gotten hers over in the first two days of the five she had plenty of time to spend with her friends. Things had been a little tense between them since junior year and Annabeth couldn't figure out why, which bothered her to almost insanity. Percy was her best friend, but lately he'd been acting more distant and just plain out weird at times like he was intentionally putting space between them. Still, they hung out like old times and nothing could change that.

She pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building she's been to a million times since she was nine. Already the weather was getting to near freezing and she rubbed her arms trying to stay warm to during the walk to the front doors of the building.

As she opened the doors to the stairwell leading to his apartment Annabeth was greeted with a blast of hot air. She sighed contently, rubbing her hands and cherishing he soon to be gone heat. She took two steps forward, back into the cold familiar air of Percy's building.

Her black boots clicked and echoed as she walked up the deserted, dimly lit stairwell. She smiled as she pushed open the door to his floor, red worn carpet meeting her feet.

She checked her watch. It was four o'clock, nobody would be home now. Sally was working at the candy shop and Percy had to stay after for detention (that boy couldn't hold his tongue to save his life). She pulled out the key to the apartment that Sally had given to her years ago. It was bronze in color and Annabeth painted the top with purple nail polish.

The door opened easily and Annabeth entered the apartment like it was her own home (it practically was anyways). Just as she closed the door a person came out from the bathroom. More specifically, the shower.

It wasn't the fact that Percy was wearing only a towel around his waste that made Annabeth stop dead in her tracks. It wasn't even the shock that someone was at the apartment. It was what was on Percy's glistening wet chest that made both Annabeth and Percy wide-eyed, staring at each other like thieves caught in a robbery.

Right over his heart was a silvery owl with wings stretched out so it looked like it was flying. Right over his heart was Annabeth's symbol.

Percy gulped and took an intake of breath.

"Annabeth." He said dumbly.

Annabeth didn't say anything for a while, silenced by fear and shock.

"What's on your chest?" She asked, her voice five octaves too high.

Percy looked down where Annabeth's symbol laid on his chest.

"Annabeth let's not talk about this right now, just let me get dressed."

Annabeth nodded wordlessly, taking a seat on the sunken in couch. The couch they had watch movies on, slept on, grew up on.

When Percy came back fully dressed in a blue t shirt (that was just too tight for Annabeth's liking) and jeans, Annabeth still couldn't take her eyes off the spot where her symbol was tattooed on her best friend's skin.

Percy sat on the couch, a respectable distance away from Annabeth herself. Neither of them spoke for a long, long time. It was Percy who first interrupted the deafening silence.

"Look, Annabeth let's just ignore this. Pretend it never happened." His deep, scratchy voice was anxious. His knee was bouncing up and down, up and down. He was looking in the exact opposite direction that Annabeth was sitting in.

A sudden hot white anger bubbled inside of Annabeth. How could Percy say to ignore something like this? Something so life changing?

"Ignore this? Forget it happened?" Annabeth was seething through her teeth. She was so angry and irritated with Percy for thinking she could just ignore this.

"How can I ignore that my best friend is in love with me!" Annabeth jumped, hands balled into tight fists.

That was a mistake. Now Percy was upset.

"Yea, well I've had to deal with it for the past year!" Percy got off the couch too, and his face was only inches from Annabeth, red with anger. The whole situation was one gigantic mess.

Annabeth took a step back, regaining her rationality at his statement. He's been in love with her for a year. A whole year and he'd kept this from her.

"Is that why you quit the swim team? Why you've been shutting me out?"

"Yea well I can't really go around shirtless at a swim meet when my best friend's symbol is on my chest." Percy spat, more mad at himself than Annabeth.

Annabeth felt a rush of panic hit all her nerves. Hyperventilation was only seconds away. Confrontation wasn't on her favorite things to do list and knowing her best friend is in love with her made a wave of nausea come over her. Her brain couldn't process the information right now. Her moment of rationality was gone to the wind.

"I- I think I need to go." Annabeth said as fast as she could while she grabbed the forgotten coat and sprinted out the door.

—–

It wasn't until the last day before school after the midterm break that Percy and Annabeth talked again.

Percy was laying on his couch absentmindedly flipping through channel after channel. He had been in a blah state ever since Annabeth found out he was in love with her, and not just that, but for over a year. Sally knew what was going on and sympathized for her son, but wanted the two to make things up. Annabeth was like her daughter and she missed her just as much as Percy did.

Percy's phone began to ring. He picked it up off the coffee table to see it was Annabeth calling him. Her contact name, Wise Girl, flashed on the screen along with her princess curls and a laughing smile. Percy braced himself for the conversation before pressing the accept button.

"Hello?" Percy asked, trying to control and level his voice.

"Hi." Annabeth's voice was so small and delicate, Percy wanted to reach through the phone, wrap his arms around her and protect her from the world (even though she could handle herself just fine).

"What's up?" His voice caught in his throat.

"Can I come over?" She sounded desperate, almost vulnerable.

Percy was taken a bit aback by the question. Annabeth was always welcomed at his house no matter what was going on between them. She never needed to ask.

"Yea, of course." He found himself nodding along as if she were there to see.

"Ok, I'll be there soon." With that Annabeth hung up.

Annabeth arrived at the apartment far faster than speed limit should allow, but Percy didn't mind. When he opened the door she stood in the hallway, bundled in layer after layer of clothes. Her already rosy cheeks were frost bitten red and she was shivering like a chihuahua.

"Hey." Percy said.

"Hi."

She stepped in and stripped of her coat, gloves, hat, and scarf leaving her black shirt, jeans, and socks.

"Is you mom home?" She asked.

Percy shook his head.

"No, she had to cover a friend's shift at the candy shop."

"Oh."

An awkward moment passed between the two. Awkward moments never used to happen with them. They meshed too well together for awkward.

"Do you want to go to my room?"

Annabeth nodded like that was exactly what she wanted.

The two went into his room and sat on the bed that they'd sat on thousands of times before. But this time was different. Annabeth wasn't laying across Percy. Percy wasn't on his phone playing the hottest new app and Annabeth wasn't reading a book. Instead they were sitting on the edge of the bed, not touching or even looking at each other.

This time Annabeth broke the silence.

"Can I- can I see my symbol?" She finally looked up at him, her nervousness starting to fade away, replaced with the determined and sometimes scary Annabeth that Percy had fallen in love with.

Percy nodded and took off his shirt, placing it on the bed. It'd be a lie to say Annabeth didn't notice his defined muscles or the way his biceps flexed as he took the cotton over his head.

Just like magic, Annabeth's symbol was on his chest, branding Percy as in love.

Annabeth took her small fingers and gently swept over the design she was so familiar with. Percy inhaled sharply as her skin grazed his. Annabeth snatched her hand back quickly.

"Sorry." She said.

"It's fine." He wouldn't look her in the eye.

Another silence lapsed between them. Annabeth broke it again.

"Percy, I need you to take off my shirt." Her face was dead set and serious.

"Um, Annabeth, I don't- I don't think that's a good idea." Percy stammered as his face bloomed beet red.

Annabeth realized how forward the command was and what alternative meaning it held. She rolled her eyes as she too gained a blush.

"I didn't mean like that. Gods, Percy." She scoffed, hoping her embarrassment wouldn't show.

"Oh, um okay." Percy said, still unsure. He grabbed the ends of Annabeth's shirt and pulled it over her head.

Once the piece of fabric was off she stood from the bed and turned around.

Across her whole back was a giant, faded blue trident. Across her whole back was Percy's symbol.

Percy gasped.

"When?"

"I noticed it after I got home the day I saw my symbol on you."

Percy stood from his seat and began tracing the lines of his symbol on Annabeth's back. His touch made her shiver.

"May I?" Percy asked fiddling with the clasp of her bra.

Thinking it over, she nodded.

He undid the clasp to look at the symbol in full.

"It's beautiful." He said in awe.

Annabeth quickly clasped her bra again and put back her shirt after a few seconds. She only wanted to show him the symbol, not all of her skin. It just had to wind up right there across her whole back.

She turned around to Percy who was also fully dressed.

"So you're in love with me?" He asked as if the giant trident wasn't proof enough.

Annabeth nodded.

"And you're in love with me." She said.

Neither of them knew when the space between them started to decrease, but soon enough their lips found each other and their hearts finally felt whole.

"I love you." They both whispered at the same time.

Percy was in love with Annabeth and Annabeth was in love with Percy.


	16. The World Shows No Mercy

The hell hound appeared out of nowhere. Its eyes twinkled in vicious malice, waiting to spring a ravish attack on the boy.

Paul froze. The sudden attack iced all his blood, all his bones, freezing him from the core of his heart to the top layer of his skin.

Sally frantically searched for anything that could be used to ward the savage beast off, but the three of them were out in the woods and the most dangerous item was a slightly pointy twig.

The hike was supposed to help recover some sense of family. It was supposed to help Percy adjust to life outside of camp, outside of quests, outside of war.

It started out pleasant; the sun hit them in just the right amount of warming rays and the natural, earthy air left them refreshed and rejuvenated. The serene surrounding obviously didn't last long.

But Percy was ready.

His hand gripped Riptide in the familiar comfort of an old friend's handshake. His feet stepped tactfully in the root infested ground, purposefully avoiding the larger, knotted ones.

The blade sliced through the afternoon air with ease and grace. The hell hound disintegrated into sand the golden color of the still shining sun. The fight hadn't even lasted a minute.

Sally gaped in shock.

This wasn't her 12 year old boy anymore, no, this was a professional swordsman. A warrior.

Percy was trained to kill, trained to be the best, trained to protect. But the way he was able to kill the hell hound so quickly… Well it was haunting.

The way he could switch from the smiling, bumbling teenager he had been just a few moments ago to this stony, almost cold soldier in the blink of an eye.

Sally felt she lost that little boy.

That little boy grew up.


	17. Two Sides of the Same Coin

"Goddamit, Jackson. Are you even listening to me?" Jason hissed out, anger boiling beneath the fist he had slammed on the table.

His eyes locked on the other boy's. The green was hard in Percy's, unrelenting. An eerie calm washed itself over the son of Poseidon. Jason never felt the phrase "the calm before the storm" could ever ring so true.

"Loud and clear, Grace." The disgusted inflection as Percy spat out Jason's last name was the only hostility he allowed himself to show. He sat in his chair, arms folded behind his head in a relaxed manner; fauxly nonchalant.

A deep thrumming coursed its way through Percy's body. Him and Jason had never gotten along from the start- they butted heads to put it simply. Each were accustomed to being the lead, knowing what was right for everyone else. They clashed greater than any enemies residing on their planet. Jason thought Percy was reckless. Percy thought Jason was too rigid, too focused on honor and tradition.

The ingrained truths of their upbringings soared when in company with each other. It was a never ending battle, no one ever reigning victory despite the near constant depletion of resources.

"If we don't put this plan into action, we're risking the whole country. If Gaea gets ahold of Olympus, what do you think will happen? We'll lose any shred of hope we had at beating her and the giants. This way is the only way we can at least somewhat ensure the Giants defenses will be weakened." Frustration leaked through every cell in the blonde's body. A vein throbbed on his forehead, peaking out as his stress heightened. His entire body was clenched, stiff with copious amounts of ire.

"That is my city. That is my home," Finally Percy's own anger began to rise to the surface as Percy leaped out of his chair and pushed his body towards Jason's.

They were close enough to the point that their breath mingled. They both breathed raging hot. For the first time in a long, long while Jason felt true to terror. Even with his extra inch on Percy, the other boy simply loomed over him, demanding his attention. A hurricane flashed in Percy's eyes and Jason understood why even gods quivered at his sight.

"Your plan will sacrifice the lives of innocent people. People that don't even know about our world! You do not have any right to drag them into this. Not my people. You have no right to decide their fate. They deserve their normal life and they will stay out of this." Percy was visibly shaking. Shaking from the pure hatred that bubbled as Jason had laid out his plan of action against the invading Giants. The one that would endanger mortals that caused no harm in this brutal war begun by the inept and pompous gods.

"We're soldiers, Percy. We make decisions we don't like and we make decisions that others don't like. But we make those decisions for the greater good. We have an entire country to protect. An entire world. One city and a few thousand lives is fortunate in the scheme of things." Jason bristled.

At Camp Jupiter they trained warriors. Lupa didn't let compassion or guilt weigh into choices. The demigods learned strategy, the emotional detachment from it. When one had to protect themselves from the most powerful sources of evil in the world they did not have room to spare for kindness. Hard choices created victories.

Percy stopped shaking.

When he spoke his voice was a mere whisper- raspy and raw, as though it were born from the beginning of the universe.

"No. What if my mom is included in those few thousands? What if Paul dies and my mom is left alone? Again. What if your plan doesn't work and the Giants take Olympus anyways and you've only managed to kill of a few more undeserving people? So, no, we're not doing your so-called plan. I don't care what you say. I don't care about your strategy.

I don't care that letting them think they're winning will decrease their guard. I don't care.

We're fighting them on the sea before they can even see a speck of land. I don't care if you're not in your element or if fighting on open water doesn't benefit you. You will not put my city at risk. And that is final." Percy was breathing hard, air rattling in his lungs, but he wasn't finished.

In a far darker tone, one that made Percy think back to drowning Akhlys in her own poison, Percy said, "And so help me… If you go against this, you'll have another war at your hands, Grace. It will not be merciful. I only hope you would have a strong enough army to even begin to think about fighting back."

The green of the boy's eyes was near black as he finished his statement, clipped words lashing at the blonde.

Jason believed Percy, he felt the power of it veer through his bones. A chill ran down his spine, a silent thanks to whatever being out there listening that for now Percy was on the same side as him. He didn't want to screw it up.

"And if that doesn't work?" Jason inquiries.

"If it doesn't work then thousands of people won't die." Percy snarled.

Jason nodded, nearly imperceptible, but enough to show Percy his business was complete.

The son of Poseidon stormed out of the room, ferocious even in the way he walked.

Jason stared at the retreating back, thinking to himself no one deserved to have that kind of power Percy possessed. Thinking to himself that he would never be sane if had it.


	18. We'll Always Be a Family

"Annabeth, I'm sorry, but you have to understand." Thalia's voice was beyond tired, beyond exhausted, and beyond heartbroken.

Her choice to become a hunter wasn't just based on a selfish bias that Annabeth could only see. Thalia wanted to postpone the prophecy, to allow time for the demigods to prepare for the child of the prophecy.

"You left me and now you're leaving me again. We were supposed to be a family." Annabeth's words were watery and hard all at once, some savagely slit throats without remorse while the others smoothed rocks in gentle waves.

The whirlwind of words weighted on Thalia's silver tiara. They buried themselves in the seams of her silver jacket like a rabbit running for shelter from a big, ugly fox.

"Annabeth, please just listen to me. I'm not abandoning you." Her words were sincere, burning annoyance into Annabeth.

The blonde's posture straightened as if her spine had been replaced by a ruler. Her skin prickled with rigid goosebumps, brought forth by her oddly sudden serene anger. Her gray eyes soaked in the ice of a tundra and burned in the core of the sun. Thalia hit just the wrong nerve.

"No of course you're not. Maybe I'll go and ask Luke to go get ice cream next weekend. Or how about I call my mom and dad for a family game night? Certainly they'll be available because they definitely didn't abandon me." Her words turned white with heat through her gritted teeth. Each syllable was a stab wound to Thalia's heart. The conversation was a mess.

"That's not fair, Annabeth, and you know it." Thalia's voice deepened with the bubbling of frustration.

"No, Thalia, what's not fair is you joining the hunters and leaving me once again." Thalia didn't miss the rawness of the words Annabeth had choked out, like it was an impossible struggle to even think about them. Annabeth was in a turmoil of emotions and none of them were good.

"Annabeth you don't need me anymore. Not like you used to. Look how close you and Percy have gotten." Thalia's words were like a fresh blanket of snow, soft and gentle.

"That doesn't mean I don't miss you." Annabeth half-sobbed. She felt like Alice going down a never ending rabbit hole. She felt miserable and even more miserable when she looked at Thalia's coat and crown. Thalia should be wearing orange, not silver.

"We'll always be a family." Thalia pulled Annabeth into a hug and didn't let go.

She was here. She wasn't abandoning her. She'd always be here.


	19. Dying Was Easy

Chapter 1

The wind howled in every crevice and corner of the car. It's stark coldness burned against the falling tears on her cheeks. Everything was so loud and bright and hurt so much. The gentle breeze from earlier in the day had turned savage and bitter. The blue skies and shining sun dissipated into a black void. Rolling clouds of gray littered the sky in sorrow. Everything felt wrong.

Annabeth felt herself pressing harder on the gas, urging the car to move faster faster. Her sobs were drowned out from the fierceness of the wind. She didn't know what she was doing, where she was going, just that she had to leave. She had to go fast. Everything felt like a blur, a smudge on the horizon. Nothing made sense, it was all a buzz in her head.

Words spun and wrapped themselves around and around each other. The events of the night warped into images like a fun mirror. Everything got magnified, misshapen, amplified to the point she couldn't understand a single thing.

She knew she was speeding. She knew the speed limit was forty-five. She knew no one used this road. She knew it'd be clear as her crystal earrings, that it was desolate except for her swerving car. She knew she had to slow down. The speedometer already read 75.

But she couldn't. She felt the undeniable lust to go faster and farther. Her thoughts scrambled together in nonsense, but one thing stood out: faster. That was the only thing that made sense; to go faster would get her away from everything. She couldn't remember why she was running, she couldn't remember much at all.

There had been a party. All her friends were there; it was for their graduation next week. They took shots and danced to pop songs that were already becoming annoying and drank really crappy beer. Jason held on to Piper like she was the last living soul on the planet. She told him how she couldn't wait to hear his valedictorian speech. Travis and Katie were playing a drunken game of pool and giggling like they did back in middle school. Hazel and Frank chatted on a tattered blue couch with punch in their hands. And Percy... Percy, where had he been?

She couldn't think. The alcohol oozed its way through her veins and capillaries, infecting each part of her body. Her brain spun in its enticing dance. It melted inside of her, it left her feeling woozy and not in control of herself. It was the whisper that told her to go faster.

And she did. She jammed the gas pedal to the ground. She pushed her foot into it with the force of a mountain and let out a sob worthy of a tsunami. She forced the car beyond its limits.

80

90

100

Her speed increased and increased. The fate of the car was totally out of her control now. She could barely keep it going straight on the rickety and unpaved road.

She'd been down the road countless times before. It was after all, where she lived. The road was mostly dirt and rocks, out in the quiet of the country. The revving of her car engine was probably the loudest thing within 20 miles. Her mother picked the house, she needed to be away from the noise and bustle of the city for her study. Annabeth had always loved the fresh, crisp air and the starry clear nights. She loved the flourishing green trees in the spring and summer and the blanket of bright snow in the winter. She loved the deep colors of the fall leaves and the crunch they gave when she stepped on them.

This night was nothing like those. There was no clear starry skies or lovely trees. The fresh air had turned sour and disgusting. The quiet felt like a death sentence, as if it lurked with the malice of a devil.

She couldn't stand it. The roar of the engine was her only comfort. The car whizzed past everything and anything. It went faster.

She knew what was coming up, but she couldn't process the actual meaning of it. She knew about the dead end and the fence of trees just before the steep cliff. Yet she couldn't get herself to slow down and stop. She knew this was a one way road. She knew what she was doing, but she couldn't stop herself.

The night had been horrible. The alcohol had been horrible. The people had been horrible. Everything had been horrible, horrible.

She felt a tug at the back of her mind. It told her she needed to stop. It told her it was only the alcohol that made her think like this. That she knew how she got when she drank. She knew how unstable she was when she was drunk. It told her to stop the car.

And Annabeth listened.

Some sane part of her listened. A part that felt like a welcoming wave of the ocean. She stopped the car as she let out one more sob. She felt the hot tears fall on the backs of her cracked, dry hands. And she stopped. The line of trees was twenty feet away. Her neck hurt from the whiplash of the sudden stop. The seat belt had dung into her chest and that hurt too. But she stopped the car.

She turned the car off with a twist of the keys. Everything went pitch black. The headlights no longer provided her with a beacon of artificial light. She sighed to herself and let her tears wash her into sleep. What had happened at the party?

Ω

Bright golden light seeped through into her eyelids. It warmed her skin with the kindness of an angel. The morning was alight with the glow of honey before she even made the attempt to open her eyes. Her insides felt serene and her thoughts felt sorted. Annabeth felt in peace with herself and everything. She felt so calm and protected in a bubble of good as if nothing bad could ever harm her.

"Miss Chase, it's time to wake up." A small girl's voice said to the sleeping beauty.

The voice startled Annabeth. The serenity she felt just moments before vanished in the blink of an eye, shattered with the delicateness of glass. Her blood chilled with icy fear and her muscles stiffened involuntarily. In a flash her gray eyes were open and alert, her body up and ready to run.

Instead of an attacker she saw in front of her was a little girl. More specifically, it was a seven-year-old version of Annabeth. Annabeth was too shocked to stifle the gasp that flew from her lips in the combination of surprise and horror. How did this little girl wear her face? Where was she? What happened to the car?

A billion different questions darted around in Annabeth's brain at the speed of light. Her head felt over energized. The beginnings of panic spiked in her stomach, crawling its way to the top of her throat. She felt her breath starting to hitch, for her breathing to become short and rapid. She felt the race of her heart beating like an overenthusiastic drum.

It felt as though she were in a dream. Time seemed to travel like liquid. Things seemed to pass quickly and slow all at once. Annabeth scanned the area she was at. It didn't make sense. Nothing looked like anything. There were no colors yet there were shapes and places. There was no sun yet a brilliance of rays fell to her skin. No solid matter graced the area yet there she stood as if cement were beneath her black boots.

Annabeth felt a smooth hand touch her arm gently, like one would pet a frightened animal.

"It's okay, Annabeth. You're okay." Seven-year-old Annabeth told her.

Her eyes were filled with earnest and Annabeth thought that maybe things were okay. But then again... maybe not.

"Wh-Where am I?" Annabeth stumbled and tripped on her words at the quaking of her voice. None of this was logical, this place (if it was a place), went against her thought process. She had no clue how she got here, where 'here' was, or what she was doing here. The whole situation was bizarre and she prayed to any listening god or deity that it was all just a dream.

Seven-year-old Annabeth looked at her. She looked so much more innocent then. Her mess of curls was pulled into a rough pony tail and her gray eyes were calculating, but not so col. Perhaps this version of herself was before she ran away.

"This isn't a physical place. You are not a physical thing. We are not anywhere. I don't even exist." Seven-year-old Annabeth said in a cool and informative voice. Usually such a tone would reassure Annabeth that this was all just fine. In this case, not so much.

"I don't understand." Annabeth felt her body taking a defensive position. Her arms crossed her chest and she squared her shoulders. She felt threatened by not understanding what her younger self meant and that she had not even the slightest clue of what was going on. However her initial panic had faded away, holding such a feeling didn't even seem like a capability in this place.

"We are not of being anymore. We don't exist in the physical world. This place is not a place. It is a state of being. A state of ethereal being."

Annabeth was starting to understand, but she didn't want to. She knew in her heart was going on, but she denied it with every ounce of might and stubbornness that was in her body. She wouldn't believe any of it. This was all just a dream. She was simply just Alice in Wonderland. She'd wake up in her car at the end of the road and laugh at how odd her dream had been.

"It's not a dream." Seven-year-old Annabeth stared Annabeth directly in the eyes. Gray on gray had never been such an intense combination. Both of their eyes swirled and brewed like the storm that had sprang in last night. Waves of charcoal and steel crossed both.

"What do you mean?" She tried to ignore the small shake of fear that crept its way into her voice. Annabeth was not scared. This was a dream, a terrible and confusing dream.

"Annabeth. You're dead."

Chapter 2

Annabeth's face drained to the paleness of a worn, white bed sheet. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. It wasn't possible. This place wasn't possible. The girl in front of her was a figment of her imagination. None of this was real. It was all too surreal to be real. That girl's voice, the one who wore her face lied to her. Annabeth was not dead because she stopped the car. She stopped the car before reaching the twisting trees and sharp, jagged cliff.

Younger Annabeth looked at her. She wore a look of disapproval. Annabeth knew that look. She used that look all the time. It was pointed and slightly annoyed. She only ever used it when someone was ignorant enough to blatantly ignore a fact. Younger Annabeth should not be using that look on her. Not when it was used to prove the point that Annabeth was dead.

She had to think logically. She wasn't thinking, only panicking. First she'd have to take her pulse. As long as she had a pulse she was alive. There was no disputing that. A pulse equaled life.

Younger Annabeth seemed to know what Annabeth was thinking and put a smug, satisfied smirk on her face. The little girl was too confident for what Annabeth was about to do. Annabeth was about to prove her wrong and Annabeth knew herself, the last thing she would do is smirk in the face of being proven wrong. She was too proud to do that. That smirk was saved only for victory.

Her hands were shaking like an earthquake. She hated that. She tried to still them, to make the queasiness leave her stomach and the tremor her hand. She snuck a quick, daring glance away from her hand that she was concentrating so hard on to her younger self. Younger Annabeth quirked an eyebrow up in challenge. Annabeth felt a blaze of shame that a version of her younger self could scare her so much, make her question so many things. How that little girl wasn't even real and this was all a terrible dream.

Her hands made her way to her neck and her fingers pressed to the carotid artery. Her skin was colder than ice or winter. It didn't feel like an absence of heat, but more like her skin could never hold heat. Her skin felt as if it were dead.

She tried to relax her shoulders and take a deep breath. Her mind focused on finding a pulse or any other sign she was alive. Her fingers pressed coolly on her neck. She waited for the small thump that showed her heart was beating. There was nothing. There was no pulse.

Her steel gray eyes widened in realization. She stumbled backwards in shock and cowardly fear. Tears flowed down her cold, cold white cheeks in streams like rivers. They were all wrong. They weren't hot like tears should be and Annabeth could only faintly feel them rushing down.

"Why? How?" Annabeth whispered hoarsely, her voice caught in her throat.

"You died, Annabeth."

"No! I-I stopped the car." She felt her world crash down on her like a sudden clap of thunder. She felt like the wicked witch when water was thrown on her as if all her sanity was melting away. Panic and terror rose like a hot air balloon inside of her.

"No, Annabeth, you didn't. You never got to your road. You never stopped the car before getting to the cliff or trees. You never felt the need to go faster."

"But I did! I stopped it and went to sleep and this is just a sick and twisted dream." Annabeth was throwing a tantrum like a child. She knew she stopped the car. She just knew it.

"Annabeth, look at me." There was a fierceness in Younger Annabeth's voice that she just couldn't ignore.

Annabeth felt hopeless and lost and scared and confused. She felt overwhelmed beyond reasoning. That fierceness attracted her like a moth to a light. It held grounding instead of the disarray inside of her. She had to look at Younger Annabeth even if she didn't want to.

"You did not reach your road. You were driving home from a party. You crashed only a minute or two into driving. No one else was hurt besides you. You are dead. Accept the fact." Younger Annabeth's voice was clear like crystal water rushing in a summer's creek.

Annabeth swallowed the growing lump in her throat. It was like trying to swallow nails with rotten milk- impossible.

"H-How did I crash?" Annabeth managed to squeak out. She hated herself for acting this weak. For acting like a scared five-year-old.

"Oh, wouldn't you just love to know? Be careful what you wish for." A devious smirk flashed across her face, a slithering red snake on summer skin.

Annabeth braced herself for the response.


	20. It's a Work in Progress

Chapter 1

The air around them was overbearingly heavy, thick as a winter's blanket and as suffocating as summer's hellish humidity. Silence traced the air in weaving patterns, going through each atom in the room, infecting everything that had the potential to carry a noise. The windows rattled a tiny bit from the wind outside making an earthquake from a pin dropped on the floor. An awkwardness personified itself between the two women. Well, between the woman and the girl.

Sally Blofis' office was rather posh and very up to date with modern times with a flat screen TV, an austere desk meant for aesthetic more so than function, and two mega sized black bean bags that were more like black holes than seating. A funky lamp decorated the corner with bends and twists in its silvery post. The hardwood floors were darker than mocha and the rug decorating them whiter than the tundra. Yet, it still had a nostalgic feel of home and warmth. It felt as though a fire was burning somewhere, shedding its light and wellness to the occupants of the room despite there being no fireplace. If one tried hard enough, they might've even been able to smell chocolate chip cookies baking.

Piper wasn't sure if it was the place itself that gave off the comforting ambiance or Sally Blofis herself who seemed perfectly capable of bringing the particular air wherever she went. Even her smile when she greeted Piper reeked of happiness, patience, and the general sense of being safe.

Piper hated it.

Just Sally's smile made it hard for her to keep up her tantrum. She knew sixteen was way too old to be acting the way she was, but at the moment she honestly and truly did not care. Piper wanted to throw a tantrum and she would. She'd throw the best goddamn tantrum on the planet including feet stomping, the silent treatment, and other arrays of childish behavior.

In her opinion Piper shouldn't have even needed to come to Sally's. Piper didn't need a psychiatrist or psychologist or whatever the hell Sally's profession was. Piper hadn't exactly been in the mood for listening to her father when he told her of her Saturday plans.

So here in Sally's office Piper sat, her feet purposefully propped on the couch along with the rest of her body curled in a ball. It had been raining out that day, hard rain with plump rain drops that splat! consistently on the ground and Piper's years old Converses. She had made sure to step in all the mud she could before entering the building with Sally's office and now she made sure to put that mud to good use.

Agitation stirred in Piper's abdomen. She was just so angry. She wished a thousand times she didn't have to be there in that stupid office with its stupid furniture and stupid vibe. She wished a million times that her father hadn't pushed her over the edge that ended with her here. She wished a billion times that the whole scenario could be erased from history. She wished a trillion times that her father had never taken that high profile case all those years ago.

So maybe she shouldn't have been taking it out on the poor woman who had been nothing but nice to her, but it felt so good. She knew her father was paying big money for these sessions and it was decadently evil for Piper to waste them. She felt like Eve taking the first bite of that poisonous apple.

Ten painful minutes passed by in the room without a word breathed in the air. Sally sat in her own chair, waiting patiently. She didn't seem to be in any hurry and looked perfectly content with waiting no matter how long and excruciating it was for Piper.

Piper still had her knees drawn to her chest, but she was getting severely antsy. It was hard to play the quiet and still game when one had ADHD, but Piper mustered all her willpower to keep going. She didn't think she could keep the attitude up much longer.

Another minute ticked slowly passed.

Finally, Sally said something.

"Piper, would you like to talk to me?"

Her voice took Piper by surprise. Of course she had already heard it when she first arrived to the office. Sally had introduced herself as Sally Blofis, saying she preferred to be called Sally, and she stuck out her hand to shake with Piper's. Piper had stomped past her without so much as a glance and plopped herself on the couch while her father carried a hushed and rushed conversation with the older woman. They had acted like Piper didn't know they were talking about her. Well, it was more her father that acted like that. At least in her opinion.

So, no, it wasn't the sound of Sally's voice that took Piper by surprise, it was her tone.

Whenever Piper pulled stunts like this with her father he'd always grow incredibly hot and frustrated with her. His voice would turn a bit hostile and he'd act as though she'd been wasting his time.

With Sally, her voice remained gentle and serene. She didn't sound upset that Piper was as unresponsive as a rock or that she had muddied her most likely expensive couch. Sally sounded like she genuinely wanted to actually help Piper, not that she wanted to not have to deal with Piper.

Maybe it was this change in pace that caused Piper to blurt out a quick and scratchy, "No."

Sally nodded respectfully, but Piper saw her trying to repress a smug smirk. She hadn't expected Piper to talk at all, so the simple one word was already progress.

"Well," said Sally just a tad too casually. "If that's the case then I'm going to make myself a nice drink. Would you like anything, Piper? I have coffee. I'm not much of a coffee person myself, too much bite and bitterness to be enjoyed, but I do love hot chocolate. Would you rather hot chocolate?"

This time Piper didn't answer, but Sally didn't seem dissatisfied.

Sally hummed a tranquil tune that Piper recognized, but couldn't place as she made her drink. Out of a mini fridge Sally pulled a can of whipped cream and towered it on to the steaming hot chocolate. Piper felt her mouth begin to water, she was always a sucker for chocolate, any kind really, and she felt the immense nagging of want. Piper tore her eyes away.

To her surprise, when Sally walked back to the sitting area of the room she didn't take the drink with her and instead placed the mug on a daffodil coaster on the coffee table in front of Piper.

"This one's not for me." She said sweetly, her blue eyes with traces of mirth.

Sally went back to the mini kitchen and made another hot chocolate with not nearly as much whipped cream and sat back down in her original spot.

Piper still hadn't touched her drink yet and Sally pretended not to notice. Another minute ticked by in the same silence that echoed throughout the room like a ghost. Neither was tangible and both always made one feel slightly haunted. Tentatively, Piper reached her tan hand out to grab the mug. She was careful not to let it spill over as she brought it to her lips and blew on it before taking a sip. It was absolutely delicious, probably the best hot chocolate she ever had. Piper couldn't understand how just a drink could make her bubble inside with some sort of chocolate induced joy.

A small smile started to creep onto her face, but was quickly vanquished when she realized it.

Sally still didn't say anything. Piper really, really appreciated that.

Four more minutes ticked by. Piper wasn't sure how long she'd been here, but the rain was beginning to let up into a small sprinkle with needle drops. She felt her lip coated in whipped cream and wiped her jacket sleeve against it, adding to the many stains that already decorated the article.

"You know, Piper, we don't have to talk about why your d-, father, brought you here. We can talk about anything you'd like. Or we could even just play a bored game. I'd just really appreciate some interaction between us if it's okay with you." Sally sounded so sincere.

She reminded Piper of something she'd never have with her patience and kindness and all around loving nature. She reminded her of a mother.

"I-I don't think I'd like to talk now." Piper said a bit shakily in her raspy voice.

Sally's face fell, almost imperceptible, but Piper saw it and quickly made amends.

"Uh, but I'd be up for a board game." Piper rushed the words from her mouth. For some reason she really didn't want to hurt Sally's feelings.

"I'll go get a couple." Sally beamed a smile, and walked over to a dark wooden bookshelf littered with colorful boxes, her heels clacked against the floor.

Piper had to go there three times a week. When her father first told her that she had slammed her bedroom door in his face and locked herself in her safe haven. Now, she wasn't so sure how bad it would be.

Chapter 2

When Piper entered Sally's office on Monday after school she kept in mind to take off her ratty, old shoes first before relaxing on the couch. She had a new found respect for the older woman and no amount of annoyance or resentment towards her father could tarnish that.

She had been in a good mood that day. School had went relatively well for once. Her English teacher, Miss Caprice, had been out sick that day with the flu and was unable to assign them the writing assignment that had originally been due that Friday. Now Piper would have a whole weekend to work on it. Also, she had received her French test back during seventh period and was more than a little smug to see she had been the only one in the class to score higher than a 95. She had gotten a 99, only missing a point for not conjugating a word in the proper tense, just a simple, stupid mistake.

In fact, her good mood was so uplifting to her normal negativity that she even contemplated apologizing to Sally for the previous meeting. Though she wasn't sure if her stubbornness would allow it since that would practically be admitting defeat and she had been in the wrong and her tantrum had been for nothing. Which was all true, but that didn't mean it had to be said.

Today Sally was at her desk. The same desk that was barely functional with one thin drawer and a tower of papers and folders on top to keep up the look of the place. Piper began to grow a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't Sally herself that designed the office. Sally was practical and nurturing. She would've rather had a working desk than a cool looking desk that made filing one hundred times more difficult. At least that was the groove Piper was getting.

Sally looked up from whatever paperwork she had been doing, gray glasses framing her face. She gave a tired smile towards Piper and held up her petite pointer finger to indicate she'd be a moment. Piper hadn't notice it last session, but Sally looked older. Wrinkles etched her forehead, her eyes drooped a bit at the corners, dark rims of purplish black left their faint trace beneath her eyes. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised, but to Piper Sally had seemed like one of those timeless people that never actually looked or acted older. She just assumed Sally was a bit ethereal in the few hours she had known her.

After a few moments of only the sound of the scratching of graphite against paper, Sally heaved a sigh, stood from her desk chair, and strode over to the seating area where Piper had already made herself lavishly comfortable. She sighed much more pleasurably as she eased herself in to the soft cushions of her ebony colored chair. Tension released itself almost instantaneously from her shoulders like a sky clearing away its gray, gloomy clouds only to expose a bright, blooming sun.

Sally told herself she needed a vacation and soon. The Bahamas were sounding more than nice at that time of year.

"Hello, Piper. How are you doing?" Sally asked, her voice obviously portraying how overworked she truly was. Yet, she still sounded sincere and interested in how Piper was actually doing. Whenever her father asked her that, well, if he asked her, it was more automatic and mandatory rather than genuine curiosity and concern.

It took a bit for Piper to response. She teetered on the prospect of again not saying anything because the silence was just so pleasant to her mind and ego; it was her safety net that never failed for her to fall back on. Nothing wrong could be said with silence.

But no... that wasn't exactly fair. And hadn't Piper wound up in this situation from trying to be proactive on receiving fairness? She might've been stubborn, but she sure as hell was not a hypocrite. At least she tried not to be.

"I'm doing... Well." Piper tested out the words on her tongue. The situation was slightly unfamiliar. It felt odd to have someone care. She felt a little giddy from it, if she wanted to tell the truth.

Sally nodded, her long, brown hair shifting along with her head's movement.

"And how was school?"

"It was well, too. I got a good grade on my French test." Piper said. Despite the joy Sally's caring brought it also made Piper a little awkward. She felt herself starting to close in as if she were a turtle tucking into its shell. Despite Piper feeling like she exuberated confidence she was really quite shy in new situations. People getting too close to her set off a panic button inside her head.

It's only her job, she reminded herself. She wasn't sure if she fully believed herself.

"Piper, that's great!" A huge grin spread on Sally's face, her excitement was contagious and Piper began feeling her own smile begin to perk up, but it failed to fully form.

"Yea, I guess it's pretty good." Piper pulled a nonchalant shrug.

"It really is." She was still sincere, but unsaid words hung at the end of the sentence like a shadow lingering on a person or the breath of wind that one was never really sure they had felt it on the back of their neck.

The realization hit Piper like a freight train going 200 mph. Of course Sally was being nice to her, of course she was acting as though she cared about Piper. Was she ever even excited over Piper's French test? Probably not.

This was Sally's job. Piper's father was paying her to... fix her?... punish her? Piper wasn't exactly sure, but she definitely knew that Sally was only trying to befriend her in order to get the story out of her. She wanted to worm her way into Piper's brain and learn how she stole a BMW and make her feel sorry for it and draw up some kind of plan that would make Piper normal. That would make her recognize her kleptomania all so she could receive a big fat pay check. She wasn't having any of it.

Piper had heard the phrase "killing with kindness" on multiple occasions, but never had it hit home so much. She had felt that maybe she could've actually trusted Sally sometime in the future, but now that was absolutely impossible. She should've known from the beginning when Sally offered that hot chocolate to her that it was all just a scam in some twisted scheme. She didn't care about Piper, she cared about pleasing her father. Just like every other soul walking that wretched earth.

"Piper? Are you okay?" Sally asked in what Piper assumed was feigned concern.

Piper hadn't realized she'd been unresponsive to Sally for a few minutes as her thoughts traveled deeper and deeper into the wonderland of her mind.

"Oh, like you care." Piper spit acid with her words. Her drastic change from somewhat nervous and trying to be open to overly hostile struck Sally with significant surprise. Just minutes ago she thought she had been making some progress with Piper even if it was only menial.

"Piper, I'm sorry, did I say something to offend you?" Her eyebrows furrowed in worry. A nagging feeling began to tug at Piper's gut like an incessant grub that called attention to the point that maybe her assumption had been wrong. But no, wouldn't that be exactly what Sally would want her to think?

"Why don't we stop beating around the fucking bush." She gritted her words through her teeth, her breath growing hot from steely ire. So much exploded inside Piper all at once. She felt catastrophic. Armageddon had come for her early and left her delirious insides a desolate and unhinged place.

"The only reason that I'm here is because my asshole of a father decided I needed help or whatever because stealing BMWs isn't a normal thing for a sixteen-year-old to do on a Saturday night, I guess. And now you," She pointed her slender finger at Sally, whose face remained placid through the ordeal, with a tremendous force of snark. "Well you act like I'm someone I can trust. You act as though you're my friend and you act like you don't care about what brought me here. But you do.

"You play your little games by giving me hot chocolate and acting excited for me, but you're not. You just want me to trust you for your own benefit. You want me to tell you about all the things I've stolen even though you already know. You want to know so you can give me some falsity or the next that'll supposedly help me not to steal. But the most important thing is the only reason you're doing this is for my father. You want his money. You just want your paychecks. And the quicker you fix me the more you'll receive."

By the time Piper was done with her harangue she was standing on her bare feet, the shaggy, white carpet tickling her toes. She was mere inches from where Sally sat, her body was visibly trembling from the fury that shook all the way within. Her hands balled into tight fists, so tight that not even air could be let into a crevice of skin. Her knuckles streamed with white. She panted heavily like a madmen having sprinted a mile.

Sally merely quirked an eyebrow up and asked, "Do you honestly believe you're broken?"

Her voice somehow seemed stronger than before the outburst, more resilient and secure like she was prepared to fight this battle with Piper and even more prepared to win. A gleam of armor shone beneath her suddenly icy blue eyes.

Piper felt a screech rise and rise in her throat until it was vanquished into the moist air of her mouth. Her anger flowed itself out of her body through a big flop back onto the couch. She pressed her lips together until they were so thin that they could barely be seen. Heat rose to her face, inflaming every ounce of her being.

She released a burning breath.

In a deadly cool voice she asked, "When did I ever once say I was broken?"

Sally shrugged casually as if this was a day to day conversation with a perfectly calm person.

"You had said your father brought you here to, ah, 'fix you' which indicates you are broken. Now, I may be wrong, but that was your word choice not mine nor his. So, do you honestly believe you're broken?"

Piper looked frustrated, it was evident in the way her eyebrows knitted together and jaw locked into place as if she were a stone statue. Instead of answering the question directly she chose to deviate from the topic.

"Are you not even going to address what I said about you?" She sounded more like an annoyed child than an opportune arguer, but still, something in her voice seemed to sway with the power of persuasion. It was the way she delivered the words, Sally decided.

Sally folded her small hands in her lap.

"If I truly thought you meant the words you said, then yes Piper, I would address you saying those hurtful things, but I know that you can't even fool yourself and fooling oneself is perhaps one of the easiest things to do albeit being the hardest. Do you think I am here to trick you or to receive a grand amount of money? Do you think I am that kind of person? Because if you really do, I will be more hurt than you may think."

Piper slumped a little. Did she really think that Sally was that kind of person? She supposed the answer was no. She hadn't originally detected malice when Sally had offered her hot chocolate. She hadn't seen signs of forgery in the smile Sally wore when Piper announced her well doing in school. Perhaps, she thought, that the wickedness in each action had been formed in an after thought. Perhaps Piper had pushed her panic button and formed the delusions in each of her memories. Perhaps Sally was right.

A painful silence passed. It wasn't like the other moments of quietness from the Saturday meeting. No, this one held more potential of destruction. It was a loaded gun and Piper had her hand on the trigger.

"I see." Sally said in a stiller voice than before, a slight nod of the head going along with the words.

"Should we talk about your speech that you so eloquently put together?" Sally asked Piper after yet more silence transpire between the two.

Piper huffed a little, but managed to mumble an almost indecipherable "I guess" for the sake of being at least somewhat gracious after her cacophony of a rant.

"Piper, I'd like to establish something with you before we move on. Yes, your father is paying me, but he is paying me to help you, not to fix you or to deceive you. You didn't want me to beat around the bush, so I won't. You've had some mishaps in the last couple years that have been getting increasingly dramatic and your father hasn't pretended not to notice. You've been caught shoplifting on multiple occasions, you've nearly been suspended from school, and now you have stolen a BMW.

"Your father didn't bring you here on malevolent grounds, he brought you here because he was concerned like any other parent would be. He may have brought you here for that reason, but that is not why I am here. That is not why I didn't discuss the BMW on your first visit here. Piper, I want to help you help yourself. You're clearly very unhappy at the moment and I want to help you get to a place where you don't feel the need to go off on a tangent or steal a tube of lip gloss.

"It's evident you don't trust me enough to confide in me and that's okay. I didn't want to start off talking about stealing the BMW right off the bat because I did not want you to think that that was all I cared about. I care about you, Piper. I wanted to show you that your actions aren't what are important here, it's your well being that is. I need to earn your trust Piper and I wanted to do it on friendly grounds.

"I made you hot chocolate when you first came here and played board games with you because you deserved to be at peace and be comfortable. I wanted to help you recognize that this is a safe place. I never meant to offend you by doing so or to think that I was conspiring with your father

"I want to help you Piper, in the sincerest way. I hope you let me do that." Sally finished. Her words had been kind and soft.

Piper had felt as though a blanket were being wrapped around her shoulders on a winter's night when snowflakes fell and the wind howled a chilly song. She felt herself relax little by little with each word spoken from Sally.

She turned her words over and over in her mind trying to comprehend all that was said. She felt a barrier come down inside herself and open her to new possibilities. For a while the pair sat in silence, an anxious and tedious and thoughtful silence.

Piper was unsure what to do with the mess of words swarming through her head. She wasn't sure to believe Sally or not to. She wasn't really sure of much at the moment.

She tried to think of a motive besides the gain of wealth that Sally might've had, but conjured up none. She tossed the syllables back and forth working through their byzantine meaning.

Should she trust Sally?

Yes. But only in time.

Piper gave a nod to Sally.

"Okay." She said, her voice coiling in the swirling air around them.

Piper was surprised not to feel more than just a shred of dignity lost and the cause of it's losing wasn't from Sally.

Sally also nodded; they had come to a mutual understanding.

A gnaw of guilt rubbed at Piper's conscience, she tried to shove it deeper into her, but it kept springing back up again. Fine, she'd have to deal with the repercussions.

"Piper," Sally began, carefully mulling over the way she'd string her next line together.

Piper looked at her with kaleidoscope eyes, just as ever changing as their host was.

"I think I'd like to assign you some homework if that's alright with you. It seems that in both of our best interests that it'd be preferable for you to give me a list of things you'd like to see happen in these sessions. Is that okay?" Sally asked gently, careful not to push Piper's boundaries.

"That's... that's okay."

Chapter 3

Annabeth pedaled faster as she approached the turn that led onto Maple Ave, Percy's street. Her heart began to beat faster and faster the closer she got; she feared it would leap right out of her chest from all the raucous pounding it was making. She could hear its badum! in her ears, using her bloodstream as a circuit to fill her body with sound.

It was silly, really. She had been to his house countless times before, even younger than she was now. Yet, she still couldn't shake her fear in this part of town. She tried time and time again to get over the ridiculous fuss that she went through every time her pink bike went over the uneven gravel on the dilapidated sidewalk.

The change in demographics was dramatic from her neighborhood to his despite being only a five minute bike ride away. The first time she came this way she practically experienced culture shock, never had she'd seen something so deteriorated, never had she seen buildings that hung on by only scrapes of paint and a bit of foundation. Usually her parents didn't let her wander into these parts of town, especially alone. But she didn't tell her parents where she biked to every time her phone buzzed with a special chime.

A woman with gray hair down to her waist stood on her sunken porch smoking a cigarette. The smoke started to waft over to Annabeth, but she quickly got out of the way of its suffocating odor. The lady's cold eyes glared at Annabeth, clearly annoyed by her presence in her territory. Annabeth quickly glanced down at what she was wearing. Every article of clothing on her body had cost at least fifty dollars each. A pink blush began to creep up her face. Annabeth stood out like a sore thumb from her white jeans to her flouncy purple blouse.

She hurried faster down to the familiar mint green house that she'd known since she was thirteen, its occupant she had known since she was six.

Two more houses and she'd be there.

She saw him sitting on the steps to the house before he saw her riding on her bike. Whenever she came over, which had been decreasingly often, they always hung out on the steps even if it was the dead of winter. Percy didn't let her inside his house and she started to understand why only the second time she came over. He always told her it was to protect her and she didn't doubt that.

He still hadn't looked up even when she laid her bike on the dewy grass and she was positive he had heard her. His face was turned away and his shaggy, raven hair hid most of him from her view.

"Hey, Percy. I got your text to come over." Annabeth said with caution. She knew something was wrong and she knew what something wrong meant. She winced in advance for knowing what was to come in the following minutes.

She sat next to Percy, the stair groaning under the new weight. Honestly, at that point she was surprised the piece of wood that held them hadn't already collapsed after all the years of sitting on it. It seemed like it would crumble into dust just by looking at it. Annabeth gave the stair a bit of credit for keeping together and even more gratitude because she knew who'd get the punishment if it did break. For the second time being there she winced.

Still, Percy hadn't said anything or even done anything to acknowledge Annabeth's presence, she fought to keep her bitter annoyance rising to her tongue. She knew that was absolutely not what he needed right now. He needed her support (even if he wouldn't outright admit it himself).

"Percy," Annabeth gently tapped his shoulder, afraid he'd be injured there, but he didn't flinch so she figured that part of him had been left untouched.

"I shouldn't have asked you to come." He said in his low, gruff voice in a tone that implied he thought he had done something stupid. Annabeth hated this tone almost more than anything, Percy never gave himself enough credit for how smart he truly was.

"Don't do that with me, Percy. You know I want and need to be here. Don't act like you messed up by bringing me here." She said trying to sound defiant and reassuring all at once.

His shoulders slumped in a sigh.

"Annabeth, please, I don't want to keep dragging you into my problems." He still wasn't facing her making her nerves start to go haywire and become extremely restless. What was he hiding from her? She wasn't one hundred percent sure she wanted to know to be truthful.

Now that really annoyed Annabeth. Didn't he know by now that they were in this together? They shared the burden of their woes. It was how they always worked. Percy always so readily went to help her in her times of need, but when she did the same he started to feel guilty. She wished he didn't.

"Percy you know just as well as I do that we're a packaged deal. We have been since kindergarten. You don't go through your problems alone and I don't go through mine alone. Now, please, turn around." Her voice was practically pleading. He could be just as stubborn as her when he wanted.

"Please, just don't freak out." Now it wasn't her doing the begging.

"Percy." She reprimanded, giving him a look that he couldn't see.

Slowly, he turned towards her. She was barely able to stifle a harsh gasp upon seeing his face. All across the right side of his face from his eye to the lower part of his cheek was a blossoming bruise. Reds, purples, blues, blacks, and yellows mingled together on his skin in a horridly ugly pattern. The marking bloomed along the surface like some grotesque painting in a museum of torture.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered, pained to see him like this. She instinctively reached her hand out to stroke the injury, but thought better of it as his face twitched into a grimace.

"You need to do something about this. Please, we can go to the police. You can't live in these conditions any longer." Annabeth pleaded, fear drenching her eyes. She wanted so badly to make Percy safe. To make her best friend safe. She began to feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes, threatening to soon spill over like the most powerful waterfalls on the face of the earth.

"Annabeth, you know I can't." Percy's voice got stony. This was always a touchy subject with him, but Annabeth was always there as his rock, she was a steady current in an unpredictable and ravaging ocean.

"Percy, why? Do you not think that you deserve to be happy and safe? Because you do, more than anyone I know." Percy might have been stubborn, but Annabeth was his equal in that department. It'd be a long and grueling battle before either of them gave even the slightest of leverage.

Percy let out a tired sigh. He'd been through this whirlwind with Annabeth a million times before just in different words and phrases. The theme was always the same. She just didn't understand, he told himself.

"Annabeth if I go to authorities do you honestly think they'll believe some junior in high school with a permanent record longer than the Great Wall of China? And if they did, what would they do? I'd wind up in some foster home with condescending people, probably away from here." Away from you, was what Percy didn't add, but the following silence said the words for him. "And then I'll turn eighteen in less than a year, and then what? I'll be on my own and have no place to go. It's not like I'm going to college and it's not like there's anyone out there that'd actually want to help some delinquent."

His tone was bitter and Annabeth really didn't want to get mad at him, but her impatience and slight sense of superiority that she tried so hard to suppress deep within in her ebbed at her from those hateful depths. Temper began to redden her cheeks. She let it pass in a breath.

"Percy. First of all, you're not some delinquent. Your grades have been increasing since the start of high school and you have just as good of a chance of going to college as anyone else, so stop berating yourself like that. And don't even say you won't be able to afford it because there's financial scholarships and aids." And I can always help pay, teetered on Annabeth's tongue. Even unsaid, Percy still felt its sting on his face; he wasn't a charity case that Annabeth needed to donate to.

"What do you think will happen if you stay here? Once you turn eighteen Gabe will have you out of here faster than someone can say 'happy birthday.' Percy, you need to be proactive and get out of this situation. It's insanely dangerous and it's not like you don't have a support system." A bit of irritation escaped from Annabeth's mouth, she tasted its potent rottenness like spoiled meat.

Percy began to grow more and more rigid with each word sputtered from Annabeth's mouth, his muscles tensed nerve by nerve. An icy cold feeling shuddered through him.

"Listen, I know you have my best interest in mind, but my decision is final. I'm not going to go to the police and I'm not leaving this house." Percy's voice was a bit too hoarse for Annabeth's liking.

"I just don't understand. Do you not understand how your decisions affect the ones that love you? You not allowing yourself to get help is so hard to stand by. How am I supposed to look at you everyday with the next bruise fading away into another? You probably won't go to school tomorrow because of it, so now it's inhibiting your education. We're supposed to be best friends, yet you won't accept any help." Annabeth said.

She wasn't trying to stir up any tension or problems between them. She genuinely wanted to understand. Percy was the person she loved the most and she needed to get him to a place that he deserved to be. He was one of the most amazing and caring persons she had ever met. She couldn't understand how he didn't see his value.

Suddenly, Percy lashed out. He never lashed out at Annabeth.

"I don't need your help! Okay? I'm not some charity, Annabeth." He scoffed and turned away from her.

Rarely did Annabeth and Percy ever get into actual, gritty fights like this, but when they did they were nasty and revolved around one thing- the differences between the pair. Annabeth came from a family of money, she lived in the wealthiest part of town and that had always acted as some kind of invisible barrier between them.

Whenever Annabeth tried to help Percy he felt as though she was saying he couldn't do things himself. That mindset had been developed early on his life when he was getting handouts in school for his poor income household. He hated feeling like he depended on people, including Annabeth. He could live his own goddamn life just fine.

"Why did you even ask me over then?" Her voice was striking, clipped, and sharp. Her gray gaze stared at him with a ferocious tenacity.

Percy waited a moment before answering. Within that moment was an intense crackling of tension, ready to explode at the slightest change in atmosphere.

" I needed your cover up." He said briskly.

She nearly scrunched her face into disgust and made an even worse noise, but stopped herself. She wasn't entirely sure if it was okay to be upset with Percy at the moment, but she didn't abandon her decision.

"Here," She said, reaching into the purse she brought with her and slamming down a compact container onto the decayed stairs. The sound of the slam resonated in moans and creaks.

She got up angrily, picking her bike up from the grass. The cool, metal handlebars felt like their own island of paradise and bliss beneath her palms.

"I hope it goes to good use." She said shortly before hopping onto her bike and peddling away from the house of troubles.

She was gone too fast to even hear Percy's protests.


	21. One Night

Chapter 1

It was late. Percy knew he should have gone to bed hours ago, after all he had a test in the morning. But here he was, sitting on his couch at two in the morning, watching reruns of old TV shows, and eating ice cream in his blue pajama pants. So much for living the college life.

He sighed, glancing at the clock. It was going to be hell in the morning and he knew it, yet he still couldn't convince himself to go to bed. He was tired for sure and the thought of waking up at seven the next morning was brutal. Why did he even take an eight o'clock class? Despite all this he just couldn't go to sleep.

When the same episode of the show came on for the second time that night, Percy knew he had to do something else. There was Piper, she was clearly awake and at a party according to her snapchat story. He could always call her.

Percy started to dial the numbers. By the time he reached the fifth number he heard the creak of his door opening.

Damn it.

He left the door unlocked yet again. He still wondered why he managed to do that. It wasn't like Percy was living somewhere nice. In fact, the apartment he had too himself was a little sketchy and the landlord incredibly lazy. And he still left his door unlocked.

Percy wasn't sure what the hell he should do. Grabbing the TV remote (it was the only thing close) he held it threateningly in front of him and made his way cautiously to the front door.

The blonde standing there was the last thing he expected to see. Her honey blonde curls draped down her back. The hem of her lilac jacket was a little frayed and her light jeans ripped. Percy recognized her as one of Piper's friends. Annabeth, was it?

He lowered his makeshift weapon and strode over to her, completely confused as to why she was in his apartment unannounced at two in the morning.

She was on the phone, talking to a caller unknown to Percy. Her back was turned to him and she didn't seem to notice his presence.

"Yes Piper, I'm home." She slurred.

Oh gods she was drunk.

Percy didn't mean to eavesdrop, that's just the way it worked out.

He caught a muffled voice that he immediately recognized as Piper's low raspy one.

"No, you're not Annabeth. Jason and I are at your house right now. You are not there." He heard Piper tell Annabeth.

Thankfully Percy knew Piper wouldn't be drunk. She almost always took the role as designated driver near testing weeks.

Annabeth finally twirled around to come face to face with Percy. A scared shriek was released from her mouth.

"Annabeth! What happened?!" Piper screamed through the phone, worry evidently laced in each word.

"There's an intruder! Call 911 or something!" Annabeth cried.

She looked absolutely petrified, was shaking and crying. It was an absolute contrast to the Annabeth Percy knew. She was calm, poised, and no nonsense girl. She didn't sob like this.

"No! No it's okay." Percy said trying to sound as soothing and nonthreatening as he could.

Annabeth slid to the floor in a heap and shook her head wildly.

"This is my apartment, Annabeth. Not yours." Percy said, evening hi voice as if he was talking to a child.

"How do you know my name?" Annabeth cried again.

The phone call must have ended because Piper's voice did not come through again and the screen was black.

"I'm Percy, remember? We're both good friends of Piper."

"P-Piper?" She hiccuped, rubbing the sleeve of her jacket across her nose.

"Yea, Piper." Percy smiled in gratitude. Finally he was getting somewhere without her freaking out on him.

"But why are you in my house!" She began crying again.

Percy sighed in frustration. This was getting no where. It was going on almost three at this point and he still had a test in the morning. He didn't have the time to be explaining that this was his apartment.

"Look around. You'll see this isn't your home."

Like a lost dog, she did look around. Her eyes widened in realization. This wasn't her home.

"I'm- I'm sorry." She whimpered.

Percy gave a light-hearted chuckle. He was just glad she stopped the heavy crying.

"Don't worry. I'll call Piper to pick you up."

She nodded, looking up to him. She was still sitting on the floor and the majority of her hair had fallen into her face.

He began dialing the number into his for the second time that night.

And again he was interrupted at the fifth number.

"Wait," Annabeth said suddenly, sounding a bit hesitant."What is it?" Percy asked half concerned, half irritated. This night needed to end soon.

"I'm really tired."

Once she said that Percy noticed she looked it too. Her face was still red and blotchy from the crying. Her eyes were puffy and warm with purple bags appearing underneath. Her small body looked overwhelmed with exhaustion.

"Okay?" Percy didn't know why that was something to interrupt him with.

"Can I just sit on your couch or something?" Her voice was still small, but the words slurred slightly less from alcohol and more from sleepiness.

"Yea, sure."

Percy grabbed her hands and helped her up. She was even shorter than he thought, her head just reaching his bare chest.

"Thanks." She left out a little sniffle.

Percy led her to his navy blue couch. It was tattered and the cushions were sunken in, but Annabeth didn't seem to mind. Once it was in sight of her she collapsed onto the velvety surface in a curled up ball.

In just a few minutes Percy could hear her snores. They weren't cute or anything ladylike, but the blonde made them endearing somehow.

He draped a fleece blanket on her before going back to calling piper.

The phone rang only twice before a frantic voice picked up.

"Listen Perce, I really don't have the time right now." Piper said, voice hurried.

"Piper-"

"I lost my friend and she screamed but then her phone must have died. And I think she was at a stranger's house." Piper was in hysterics by now.

"Piper, you need to listen-" Percy started

"And we can't find her and she's really drunk." Piper was sobbing.

Percy wanted so badly to just go over to wherever his best friend was and wrap her in a hug. To tell her her friend was just fine and sleeping on his couch at the current moment.

"Piper, you have to stop crying and listen to me." Percy's voice was gentle with a stern edge.

"Okay." Piper whispered.

He could hear her gulp.

"Annabeth is at my apartment right now. I don't know how she got here or why she thought this was her house, but like you said she was really drunk. She's sleeping right now and you can come get her."

"Oh thank god." Piper breathed out in relief. A knot that had been growing in her stomach untied itself and the bile rising in her throat went a away.

"I'll come now." She said, her voice still raw from crying and hung up the phone.

An hour late Piper was standing in his doorway. Her eyes were slightly red and her black shirt a little rumpled. Jason was nowhere to be found.

"She' just on the couch. Snoring her head off too." Percy told his friend.

Piper chuckled.

"That's Annabeth for you."

She stood a little nervously and tugged on the sleeve of her shirt.

"Sorry about that, by the way. When Annabeth's drunk she gets totally out of character. Well her being drunk in the first place is usually pretty out of character." Piper said quickly, a little embarassed at her friend's actions.

"Don;t worry about it." Percy shrugged.

They both walked over to the sleeping beauty. A little trail of drool rolled down the side of her cheek.

"She's all yours." Percy said.

Piper shook on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Come on, Anna. Time to get up." Piper told her friend, not nearly as nicely as loud.

The blonde did nothing but mumble a few incoherent words and roll to her other side.

Piper blew a tuft of hair out of her face.

"This is hopeless." She said.

"You can always just carry her out."

Piper stared at Percy, eyes in a bit of disbelief.

"Percy, I cannot carry out a 110 pound woman. I may be able to kick butt, but lugging practically dead weight around is not my expertise."

"Well what do we do then?"

Piper gave an amused smile. A mischievous glint crossed her ever changing eyes.

"Why don't you carry her out?"

At this point Percy didn't even feel like arguing. He just hauled the sleeping girl into his arms and carried her bridal style.

Her head tucked into his chest and she wrapped her arms around her neck. A few words bubbled from her mouth, none of them making sense.

"Aw, how sweet!" Piper mockingly cooed.

Percy shot her a look of annoyance.

"Just take me to your car."

"My pleasure." Piper gave him a wicked grin.

"She's gonna have one hell of a hangover." Percy commented as they made their way to the parking lot.

That night Percy got two hours of sleep. He didn't really mind though. Despite the annoyance of the previous situation, he couldn't help thinking it was supposed to happen. That night just before falling asleep he thought of honey blonde curls. A soft smile formed on his lips.

Chatper 2

Annabeth's head pounded like a stampede of bulls were running a marathon over her brain. Her mouth was dry, tongue thick and swollen, and terribly uncomfortable in her mouth. She felt like the apocalypse happened in her body. A big, bloody, deathly apocalypse. She was hungover.

What happened last night?

There was that party her and Piper went to... Oh gods the party! How much had she drank? Clearly too much by the clamorous buzz in her ears.

Her blood had turned to lead overnight. Legs and arms were dead weight, too exhausted and overwhelmed to carry a body. It was as if everything was in the state of one gigantic yawn.

She laid there on the bed, 70% sure she was still drunk, and trying to suppress the bile rising in her throat. The acid burned fiercely, begging and pleading to escape like a prisoner locked away.

What had she done to herself?

Annabeth was always a lightweight when it came to drinking. She hardly ever went out and when she did the most she'd have was half a beer. It felt like she'd taken half a dozen tequila shots and downed a pint of whiskey.

The golden morning rays of sunshine began to filter through her closed eyelids. Even those faint traces of light made the blonde groan in agonizing pain. They made her feel like her insides were being seared to a crisp, then turned over and beaten.

"Well good morning, Sleeping Beauty." A low chuckle wrapped it's words around Annabeth's eardrums in torment.

"Piper?" Annabeth moaned, not daring to open her eyes and see if she was correct.

"Well I'd certainly hope so, considering you're currently sleeping in my bed." Piper let out a bemused smirk.

Of course she'd be at Piper's. When you were as drunk as Annabeth and had a caring devoted friend, you didn't go back to your own house.

Tentatively, Annabeth sat up, her elbow making an indent on the malleable mattress. Little by little she opened her eyes to let in the twirling streams of golds and yellows.

At that exact moment, Piper decided it was a smart idea to open her light pink curtains even further, bathing the room in drenches of sparkling honey.

Annabeth hissed like a cat that had fallen into an unexpected puddle. The malevolent sun cursed her eyes and her head. The rays shot another dose of pain through her body, coursing it's way through veins as fast as a rushing river.

"Piper. I swear to all effing hell if you don't close the goddamn curtains right now..." Annabeth didn't finish off her threat, instead squinted her eyes to adjust the level of hurt her body was experiencing.

Piper let out another laugh.

"Hun," She began, "You couldn't even poke me in your current state."

Annabeth felt her body slump forward in defeat, causing another wave of pain to flow in her skull. Piper was right, she could barely even sit up without wanting to die.

"Here take this." Piper said shoving something into Annabeth's hand.

She felt her fingers curl around a cool, frosty glass and three small tablets.

Water and Advil.

"Oh thank goodness." Annabeth whispered to herself before taking a large gulp of water accompanied by the three small pills.

The smooth water soothed her scratchy, dehydrated throat. It brought nourishment to every ache and pain. The Advil weened off the splintering headache, making it into only a dull throb. For the first time that day, Annabeth finally felt a small speck of bliss.

The euphoria lasted about seven seconds.

"So had a wild adventure last night, did we?" Piper smirked devilishly at the other girl.

Annabeth gave her the best glare she could manage with her eyes still caked in last nights make up and feeling red and raw from crying.

Wait. Crying?

Annabeth couldn't remember ever crying. Though, all the signs were there. The weariness and sting of her tear ducts. The way the back of her eyeballs felt as if a cloth was taken to them and relieved of all moisture.

"I'm never drinking again." Annabeth groaned, flopping her head into her hands.

She massaged at her temples, regretting all the decisions of the previous night. The worst of it all, she couldn't even legally drink until six more months. Annabeth Chase never made stupid mistakes like this. Well, almost never.

"Percy called about an hour ago. He wanted to make sure you were all right. I told him you looked like death hit you with a stick." Piper said almost flatly, twirling a strand of brown hair between her tan fingers.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked.

Why would Piper mention him? Why did he call for her? More importantly, how did he know to call for her?

"Oh man, you don't remember, do you?" Piper said with a look of shock mixed with laughter.

"Remember what?"

Annabeth could feel herself growing frantic. One of her worst fears of drinking was not being in control of herself. What had she done that she couldn't remember?

"Let's just say you payed someone a visit last night." Piper said wit a suggestive smirk.

The blood drained rapidly from Annabeth's cheeks. Her jaw hung stupidly open.

What had she done?

Piper burst into a fit of hysterics. She looked as if she was about to pee her pants in amusement.

"Oh relax." She said, placing a gentle hand on Annabeth's tense shoulder.

"Tell me what I did right this instant, Piper McLean." Annabeth's voice was hard and stern, unwavering in her demand.

Piper told her friend everything from the last night's events. She told her of Annabeth practically breaking into Percy's apartment. She told her of the sobs that erupted from Annabeth's mouth and how she fell asleep snoring like a trucker on Percy's couch. Piper then made sure to emphasize that a shirtless Percy carried Annabeth to Piper's car while she clung to him like a kitten.

Annabeth didn't know what true embarrassment was until the end of Piper's tale. Her face was inflamed, ravaged by a rosy pink. Her ears were as hot as fire and a sinking stone traveled down her stomach.

She wasn't even going to look at alcohol again, much less consume it.

"Please tell me you're joking." Annabeth's hoarse whisper was filled with dread in each syllable.

Piper shook her head, a little sympathy added for her friend's sake.

"Maybe just give him a call. Apologize for slobbering all over his chest." Piper shrugged.

Annabeth glared at the brunette with the heat of an inferno, but still tugged the phone from Piper's hand.

A strew of long, complicated, and uncensored cursed words flung themselves from Annabeth's mouth as she searched for his contact in her friend's phone.

Angrily and a bit ashamed, she tapped the call button on his contact.

One ring.

Two rings.

As each sound went by the more Annabeth felt the need to hang up the phone right now. What would she even say? Sorry that I walked into your house and slept on your couch when I was drunk? She sounded absolutely pathetic.

"Hello? Piper?" A husky, deep, almost morning voice said into the speaker.

It startled Annabeth so much a small gasp released itself from her lips.

"Annabeth, actually." She quickly breathed out the words, afraid if she said them any slower she wouldn't say them at all.

"Oh, hey, Annabeth." Percy said with a slight chirp of laughter.

"Listen, I just wanted to say..." She choked on her words.

If there was anything Annabeth had too much of it was pride, and apologizing for her mistakes was a sharp jab that would wound it mortally.

She took a deep breath of air, mentally preparing herself. On three, she told herself.

One.

Two.

The feeling of shame came back as powerful as the wave of tsunami. It crashed on every end of her nerve. Every feeling soaked in the disgusting stench of disgrace.

She couldn't do this. It was mortifying. She would never be able to look him in the eye again.

He had to carry her out. She drooled on his couch.

No, stop thinking like that. She could do this. All it was was a simple apology. Any normal, functioning human being could do this.

Three.

Chapter 3

She hung up the phone with the last confused "Hello?" coming in from the other line. Her breath was coming in short staccato from the anxiety of trying to apologize for what was probably the most embarrassing night of her life. She sighed in her true and utter pathetic actions. She was 20 years old for crying out loud!

And she couldn't give a simple 'sorry' to the guy that graciously carried her out of his apartment after she essentially broke in.

"I'm a disgrace to the Chase name." Annabeth said glumly, placing the pink rhinestone cell phone back into her friend's petite, tanned hand.

"You really are." Piper snickered.

The brunette got up and went into the kitchen where the scent of cooking bacon wafted in the morning air. Annabeth felt another wave of nausea overcome her as the smell trickled its way into her nose. This hangover was truly hell, there was no other way to describe it.

She looked at the mirror that hung opposite to her. Dark purple rings hung in bags underneath her bloodshot eyes. Her hair limply held itself in a blonde bird's nest of tangles; her hair brush had some serious work to do, well Piper's hairbrush. In short, her outside looked as horrible as her churning insides felt. Did she mention she was never drinking again?

Piper reentered from the kitchen with a plate of crispy bacon in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. Even the sight of the food made the blonde want to hurl. Was Piper doing this on purpose? Probably.

"Aren't you a vegetarian?" Annabeth's head couldn't take what she was seeing, she still felt groggy and Piper eating meat didn't help to clear things.

Piper shrugged in response and took a long, audible gulp of her orange juice before throwing the rest of it to the back of her throat like the shots Annabeth had taken the night before.

Annabeth could really do without that similarity.

"Hey, don't worry about Percy. He gets the point." Piper said to her friend after seeing her stressed and worried face.

Annabeth massaged her sore temples. That conversation was way too exhausting than it needed to be. Yet here she was on a toasty light filled morning with her smirking best friend and a migraine filled with pride wounding emotions.

"I can't believe I did that. Could I be any more of an idiot?"

"Oh please, you need to stop overreacting." Piper said now with a mouthful of bacon that was seriously perplexing Annabeth. Piper was a vegetarian, wasn't she?

"I'm not overreacting! I fucking hung up the phone. Who the hell does that?" Annabeth's faced was painted a cherry red and burned as fierce of fire- whether it was from anger or embarrassment, Piper did not know (though it was probably both).

A string of mumbled, incoherent words flung themselves from the blonde's mouth. Her knuckles turned a sickly white from her hands being gripped too tight in fists.

"Oh- give me the damn phone McLean!" Annabeth said after 5 minutes of grueling silence and Piper's consistent (and annoying) crunching.

Piper laughed, bemused at her best friend's grumpiness. It wasn't everyday someone got to see a disgruntled Annabeth Chase and on the rare occasion that one did, Piper made sure to take as much advantage of the situation as she could.

"Hmmm... I don't know, Annabeth. I mean you had your chance and you simply blew it." Her attitude was teasingly breezy and nonchalant, completed with a slight, elegant shrug of her shoulders. The act was certain to make Annabeth fume.

"Piper, I do not have time for your childish games. We are not in grade school anymore so give me the phone." Annabeth huffed with a too serious face and an almost monotone voice that held only a slight shake of anger.

"Well, let me make a call to my chiropractor first. My back is killing me."

To emphasize her point, Piper contorted her back whilst making a series of exaggerated grunts and groans. She loved torturing Annabeth like this- Annabeth couldn't call her out on it because Piper could easily play the innocent act, yet at the same time both girls knew exactly what was going on.

"Piper." Annabeth warned dangerously. Her no nonsense tone was the final persuasion for Piper to give up the act.

"Fine. Here." Piper said making sure to convey the defeat and fake hurt in her voice as she tossed Annabeth her phone.

"Thank you." Annabeth said with a smug smirk as she held the now ringing phone to her ear.

"Yea, whatever. Just don't hang up this time." Piper said under her breath.

Annabeth's mouth was poised to reply when a familiar low, heart-aching voice answered the phone. The blonde settled for one of her death glares. It had no effect on her best friend.

"Hey, Pipes?"

Oh, his voice. Why did it have to sound like that? The gravelly undertones made Annabeth's heart drum in her head and his slow deliberateness in each and every word gave her a rush of adrenaline. Just talking to him gave her a high. Wow... okay she really was pathetic.

"Oh, hi. It's Annabeth. Again." She wanted to slap herself for her how small and mousy she sounded.

Ugh, what was wrong with her?

"Hey, Annabeth! Not gonna hang up on me this time, I hope." His voice boomed with laughter and filled her whole body with a radiating mirth that felt like the sun shone just to warm her.

"Yea, um, about that."

Don't back out. Don't back out. Don't Back out.

She drew in her breath like she would before a start of a marathon.

"I-I'm really sorry about last night. I'm not sure what happened, well I do know what happened. I mean, I got drunk, but I normally don't! Oh and I thought your apartment was my apartment and I don't really remember everything and..." She stopped to take another breath, but was beat to the next line.

There was his laughter again. Why did it have to be so sweet? It held no malice or ill will, only sincere amusement like Piper's.

"Seriously, don't worry about it. No big deal." She could hear his smile through the phone.

Annabeth hadn't noticed Piper left.

"Are you sure?" She nervously twirled a knotted curl between her fingers.

What was up with her?

"Yea, but..." He trailed off suddenly sounding nervous himself.

"What? What is it?" Annabeth was frantic, needing to know what she did wrong.

"I, well, I'm not going to say last night wasn't fun. It was certainly an adventure"- that earned a light chuckle from both of them-"But, you seem pretty cool and I was wondering if... Well, if you'd like to go on a date with me. Maybe have a proper introduction where one of us doesn't think the other is an intruder."

"Oh. I mean, yeah. Yes! Of course I'd like to go on a date with you." She felt her ears turn pink at her quick enthusiasm.

"Does Thursday night work for you? I can pick you up at 7 or you could meet me at my place seeing as you already know where I live."

"Yea, that works fine." No, it didn't. She always got hours and hours of homework on Thursdays.

"Alright, see you then."

"Bye."

Annabeth could hardly contain her girlish grin that was spreading across her face, reaching from ear to ear. Maybe she would drink again.

Chapter 4

"Piper please just help me out." Percy whined through the phone like a toddler. He knew Piper was sitting on her bed, smirking in delight at holding Percy in this position. She was Annabeth's best friend and she wouldn't even help him figure out where to bring her for a date. More importantly a first date.

"Hmm... I don't know." Piper was definitely smirking at this point. She never used to be like this, confident and even a little devious to her friends. Back in high school when Percy and her were skating buddies she had a totally different persona. She stuck to the shadows with her best friend Leo and some of the nerdier kids. They were the ones that would come to school dressed as Lord of the Rings characters for Halloween. She was a little unsure of herself back then, not totally comfortable in her skin, but through the years Percy knew her she only got more and more confident.

"Piper come on. I really want her to like the date." He was sounding just a tad bit pathetic at this point.

Piper let out a small laugh that indicated she'd finally help her friend. "Fine, Kelp Head. First of all she loves Italian and Greek food if you're taking her out to dinner. Greek food especially. She has a really severe allergy to olives so be careful if you do take her to a Greek restaurant. Her favorite movies are action and mystery. She also loves a good sappy romance, but she'll never admit to it."

"Thank you so much, Piper!" Percy let out a sigh of relief and excitement all while trying to memorize everything she just said. He almost laughed at this point, finally having answers to what he should do. All week he was in a panic that wherever he took Annabeth would turn into a disaster. He waited all the way to Wednesday before thinking he should call Piper and ask her for advice.

"Yea, yea whatever. Just make sure she has a good time, please. She hasn't been on a date in a while and is constantly spending her time overworking herself. It's good she's finally getting out." Piper's voice was softer now, her care and love for her best friend shone through. It wasn't everyday that Piper let go of the humorous and sassy demeanor. Only a few special people ever got to see her soft side that filled to the brim with admiration for her loved ones.

"It means a lot Piper." Percy said, also taking on a quieter, more gentle tone. He really was appreciative of his friend's help.

"Well you better go find a place to take her. Annabeth doesn't like when there isn't a plan." Piper said, rushing to clear the air of what could become a more meaningful conversation. She didn't like sappiness or when Percy's voice got like that. When it meant he'd thank her so sincerely and all she did was something so simple. When she didn't feel worthy of one of her good friends.

"Alright, I'll see you this weekend." The click of the phone hanging up followed Percy's goodbye.

Percy took his laptop out after hanging up with Piper. He'd had the laptop since his sophomore year in high school and the originally blue top had taken some beating to it. A "Save the Whales" sticker hung loosely to it in tattered ruins from his senior year in high school. One of his best friends, Jason Grace, wrote his name on it in big block letters with sharpie back in junior year. There was a scratch here and there and every time Percy used it he'd wonder when he would need a new one.

The laptop was slow to start and the screen was always somewhat blurry in the top left corner. He brought up the internet browser and searched for Greek restaurants in New York City. He wasn't expecting hundreds of results. The stress began coming back to him.

How would he chose which one to bring Annabeth too? Percy really wanted to bring Annabeth to a Greek restaurant, it was something a bit different than the standard movie date. Not many people would say their first date was at a Greek restaurant.

He scrolled through the results looking for the ones with the highest stars. Nothing captured his attention.

Didn't his mom know a good Greek restaurant?

He decided it was in his best interest to call her. It seemed that lately his whole life was revolving around phone calls. First it was Piper the night Annabeth wandered into his apartment, frantically looking for said friend. Then it was Annabeth in the morning, twice, trying to apologize. After that it was him calling Piper for advice and now he had to call his mom for even more help. Thank the gods the cell phone was invented.

The phone rang a couple times until a familiar sweet voice picked up. Percy couldn't keep himself from smiling, he hadn't talked to his mom in a while and it was nice to hear her voice again.

"Hey, mom."

"Percy! How are you? You haven't called me all week." His mom jokingly scolded him. A TV show sounded in the background and he heard the faint clacking of keys. He must have interrupted her writing.

"Do you want me to call you later? You sound a bit busy."

"Of course not! I haven't spoken to my baby boy all week. I want to know what you've been up to."

"About that." Percy rubbed his neck nervously and felt a faint blush creep to his cheeks with the heat of a small fire. Even just the thoughts of Annabeth made him act like a fool. "I was wondering if you knew any Greek restaurants around the area."

"Greek restaurants? Why would you need to know a Greek restaurant? You've never had Greek cuisine before." Sally sounded a bit perplex, but also a little knowing. It was as if she already knew why Percy needed to know and she just wanted to put up an act to get Percy to confess himself.

"It's, uh, for this girl. I'm taking her on a date and Piper said she likes Greek food. So you know, Greek restaurant."

"Percy! Why didn't you tell me before you had a date? What's her name? When do I get to meet her?"

"Mom," Percy groaned at his mother's enthusiasm, it was just one date and just one girl. Although he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to take Annabeth on another date after the upcoming one.

"Oh, just tell me already."

"Her name's Annabeth. She's really pretty, mom."

"Aw, I bet she is!" Sally practically squealed. "Luckily for you I do know a restaurant. It's actually only a couple blocks away from your apartment building, I'm surprised you've never seen it. It's called Olympus. Small little place with lovely workers. Well, I say lovely, that only counts for a couple of the staff members. A lot of the other staff is just horrid. It's run by this big family and gosh their relationships are a mess. The one husband has had probably a dozen affairs but his wife still stays with her and-"

"Ok, mom. I only needed the name." Percy chuckled, cutting off his mom from the entire history of the place.

"Oh, you're no fun. Alright well have fun on your date, I love you."

"I love you too."

He hung up the phone and closed his eyes, wishing desperately that tomorrow could come sooner.

Chapter 5

The restaurant Percy's mother recommended was very small. It was crammed between a convenience store and an even smaller bistro. The sign was severely faded and the neon "OPEN" sign was only partially lit in neon red, making it read "PEN".

The inside was even more dated than the outside. The floor was covered in yellowed white, marbled tiles and the ancient flowered wallpaper was peeling in some spots. The seats of the booths were ripped in places and a ceiling fan droned on mercilessly.

Still, Olympus was a cute and quaint restaurant. The pair was greeted by a lovely lady with flowing orange curls that promptly seated them at the nicest table. No one else was in the restaurant, but it didn't feel vacant.

"So... um, how's school going?" Percy asked unsure, his voice rising high. He took another bite of his food, nervously chewing the piece in his mouth. He only hoped eating would delay him from saying anything else idiotic.

He hadn't even known what he ordered. Percy wasn't familiar with any of the dishes on the menu and his dyslexia did nothing to aid in reading the menu. So, he just randomly selected an option and pointed to it when the blonde hair, teenage waiter came to take their order. Whatever he was eating, it was good. The perfect blend of meat, garlic, and lemon.

Annabeth giggled tentatively from across the booth. She hadn't tried any of her meal yet. It was still steaming hot and unless she wanted a burnt tongue for the rest of the week she'd have to wait a while to try it.

"It's going good. My classes are pretty challenging, but I manage. What did you say you were majoring in?" She asked, her sweet voice filling Percy's ears with warmth. She poked her food around idly with the shiny, metal fork. He didn't regret that night she stumbled into his apartment. Not at all.

"Uh, I'm studying to be a teacher so Early Childhood Education and Teaching." In truth, Percy wasn't sure if it was exactly the right thing for him. He wanted to help kids and teaching seemed the best way to do that, but now... Now he was just confused on what he really wanted to do. Twenty was too young to decide such things.

"Really? I didn't peg you as the teacher type, Mr. Jackson." Annabeth gave a flirtatious wink, but immediately blushed in embarrassment. Gods, she thought, I'm such a dweeb. Percy and her both chuckled. Sure, the first date was going a little awkward, but it was by no means bad. Good, in fact, if you asked either of them.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yea, I just kind of want to help kids, you know?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Yea, I'm not a huge fan of kids, but I can see where you're coming from." She looked longingly at her still too hot food.

Just as Percy opened his mouth to ask what Annabeth was majoring, a crashing noise came from the kitchen just a few feet away.

Out of the swinging doors came an arguing couple of about 50. The woman was stunningly beautiful with long limbs and deep brown hair done up in a complex braid. Her large chocolate eyes were alight with deep anger. The other half of the couple was a fit and tall man. His graying hair reached near his chin and his beard was bushier than the actual bushes that laid in front of Annabeth's father's yard.

"Get out of my restaurant right now!" The lady screamed to the man in a screeching, irritating voice.

"Me?! I'm the one that owns this gods forsaken place! You should be the one to get out of here if anything." The man's deep voice boomed through the small area. His face raged red in the artificial light.

"Yes you!" The woman cackled in her awful voice. "You are the one that cheated on me. For the seventh time!" She crossed her arms like a child and faced away from the man. Their feuding was causing quite a raucous.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Hera! She was simply a fling, besides all I did was give her a small kiss. You know how much I love you." His reasoning was pathetic and only infuriated his wife further.

Just as Hera was about to throw a furious retort her husband's way accompanied with a pointed finger, another woman in her early thirties came forward to intervene.

This woman wore blooming bell bottom jeans and her scraggly hair fell limply all the way to her lower back. Her eyes were rimmed with red and Annabeth wouldn't have been the least surprised if this woman had been smoking marijuana.

"Guys, just chill out please. We have customers." The woman only sounded slightly stoned when she walked away.

As if it just occurred to them, the spouses turned their heads toward Percy and Annabeth. Percy gave them a small wave and sheepish smile that pretty much screamed "Please get me out of here!"

The couple fell silent, glared at each other for a good measure of time, and walked their opposites way.

Percy and Annabeth shared a glance once the commotion was over and burst out into fits of laughter.

They were holding their stomachs, faces red in a good way unlike the man just a few moments before. Annabeth swiped at her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. It took several minutes for the two to catch their breaths and settle down.

By now both their meals had grown cold and unappetizing.

"Man, that wasn't even that funny." Annabeth said shaking her head, taking a disappointed bite from her food.

"I'm sorry our first date didn't go so well." Percy said after a moment of silence looking slightly downcast.

Annabeth looked at him.

"Don't worry, we'll have more." She said, smiling shyly.

Percy's face broke into a wide grin.

"I hope so."

Chapter 6

Percy was only trying to go for a walk. His mom had called him earlier asking him if he'd take her mastiff, Mrs. O'Leary, to central park. Percy never planned on the dog going haywire and springing herself on the same girl he had a date with just a week earlier. Percy never planned for his dog to plow her to the ground. It seemed Percy never planned a lot of things when it came to Annabeth.

But here he was and her she was. And here the gods forsaken dog was, sprawled across Annabeth's petite frame, lapping at her face happily with a pink tongue. Annabeth's blonde curls splayed out across the grass, tangling wildly in between each green and dewy blade.

"Well, hello there." She said, pushing the dog off her and standing to her feet. She started to brush the light stains of dirt off her jeans and cardigan. Her hair was wreck and in desperate need of a brushing. She did her best to smooth the knots down, but her attempts were hopeless.

Mrs. O'Leary sat on the grass besides Percy, wagging her tail furiously. She looked at Annabeth expectantly with a huge, doggy grin wider than Texas, panting as though she just sprinted a mile.

Annabeth looked up from fixing herself and was slightly startled to see a familiar set of sea green eyes. The morning's sunlight glinted off of Percy's raven hair, shadowing him in a favorable manor.

"And I thought I wasn't going to see you until Friday at the movies." Annabeth grinned at Percy, pleasantly surprised to see the handsome beau.

Percy smiled sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of his neck with one of his tanned, calloused hands.

"Yea, I'm sorry about that. She must've caught your scent or something and just went crazy. I wasn't really able to get control of her when she tackled you." Percy could feel heat rising to his cheeks. Of course his dog just had to attack the pretty girl that he may or may not really, really like.

"That's okay. I didn't know you had a dog." Annabeth said, petting Mrs. O'Leary right behind the ear. Mrs. O'Leary pumped her leg in joyful contentment, starting to lie on the ground and show the blonde her belly.

"Oh, she's actually my mom's dog. I just had to take her for a walk." Percy explained, bending down to rub the dog's belly. Mrs. O'Leary was getting too much attention for her own good.

"She sure is a cutie." Annabeth beamed at the dog.

Not as cute as you, Percy thought, then mentally scolded himself.

A silence lapsed between them.

"We'll I've gotta go. Piper is waiting for me." Annabeth said awkwardly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'll see ya." Percy gave a small wave as she walked off at sent her own wave his way.

He watched her blonde curls bounce away, sighing contently. He felt a click with Annabeth. He really did.

Chapter 7

"Annabeth, quick, hide me!" Percy said abruptly, a mad look wavering in his sea green eyes. He started to pull Annabeth in front of him in a futile attempt for her to shield him from whatever caused his sudden and frantic demeanor. Annabeth would do no good at hiding him considering the fact that she was a foot shorter than him even in her wedges, but let herself be his human shield anyways.

"What? What is it Percy?" She turned her body to look at him. His hair was disheveled as always and his shirt was rumpled with more wrinkles than an English bulldog, but that was normal. It was the scared look in his eyes that wasn't.

Before Percy's sudden outburst the pair had simply been waiting in line for their movie tickets. They were idly talking with each other about this and that and Annabeth was making mental notes throughout the conversation. She learned his favorite color was blue, that he tried out for the basketball team in ninth grade but didn't make it, and that Mrs. O'Leary had been his mother's neighbor's dog before he died. It was a very long line.

Annabeth loved hearing Percy talk. Most of the time it was her rambling off about her interests, architecture and drawing mainly, so the change had a nice new beat to it that Annabeth could definitely go along with. He always seemed so happy to share anything with her, even if it was just the fact that his breakfast that morning had been pancakes. It was impossible for her to retain the stoic face she trained herself to always have when he talked, she always broke out into a glowing smile.

Annabeth wouldn't lie if she was just a little concerned about Percy's change of pace.

"It's my ex! Oh gods, I hope she doesn't see me. If she comes over, just act like we're in love, okay?" His voice quivered like the legs on a newborn deer trying to stand up. Annabeth wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or be offended that she had to act a certain way in front of his ex. She just hoped the so called 'ex' wouldn't come greet them and an awkward situation could be avoided.

The gods must have not been listening because five seconds later a bouncy red-headed girl with curls bigger than Texas and a sea of freckles on her face came over to them.

She was much taller than Annabeth and barely two inches shorter than Percy. Her boyfriend jeans were straight from a magazine, but tarnished with splashes of blue and red paint. She wore a faded purple sweatshirt with words that could no longer be read and had beat up converses on her feet, with hot pink socks sticking out.

Annabeth prided herself on looking better than her (at least in her opinion) with her light pink sundress that radiated with the essence of spring and her new white Michael Kors bag. She would be lying if she said she didn't splurge with her tips from waitressing.

"Percy, hi!" The red head said in a thick southern accent as she approached them, barely even acknowledging Annabeth's existence except for a minor side glare with her bright emerald eyes.

"Hey, Rachel." The wince in Percy's voice was hilariously noticeable and he reached for Annabeth's hand.

She smiled a sweet, small, secret smile as she felt his firm grip. His hand was comically larger than her petite one, but somehow they fit perfectly together like a key in a lock.

"How are you doing? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Just like that her accent was gone, replaced with a neutral American accent. Annabeth shot Percy a confused look, but he just shot her one that said 'please don't ask questions right now.' Annabeth shrugged, but her curiosity remained hungry.

Rachel was still blatantly ignoring her and it irked her every last nerve.

"I, uh, just got in engaged actually. With Annabeth here." He said nervously, his free hand rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced at Annabeth with a begging in his eyes to just keep playing along.

She was a little surprised at first that that was what he said, but decided to keep rolling with it. It'd probably be more fun that ways anyways.

"Oh, that's... cool. I guess." Rachel's face scrunched into extreme distaste as if some had asked her to eat her own vomit. Annabeth could barely contain her laughter that started to bubble in her throat.

"Yea it is." Percy said and forcefully smiled, Annabeth noticed a few beads of sweat that began to collect at his brow.

"But certainly not as cool as that time we had sex on my dad's privately owned beach. Surely you remember it? The sun was beginning to set and the sky was riddled with pinks and reds and oranges. And everything was pure magic with the waves softly lapping in the background." Rachel said with sultry in her voice.

A small pang of jealousy stabbed Annabeth's heart as Rachel told the story.

Percy's face was blooming red as a tomato with each word uttered from Rachel's mouth. He looked ready to hurl.

"Uh, bye Rachel." He said awkwardly with an even more awkward wave before pulling Annabeth to the arcade section of the movie theater.

Luckily for them, Rachel didn't follow and must have taken the incredibly obvious hint that neither of them wanted her around and left. She had been absolutely obnoxious. Annabeth couldn't believe Percy could ever date a girl like that.

"That was interesting..." Annabeth said as they stood by a claw machine.

Percy slumped his head against the machine and groaned heavily.

"I am so sorry about that. Trust me when I say that whole beach thing never happened. She's crazy. It's partly why I broke up with her and the fact she cheated on me twice in six months." He breathed a heavy sigh, clearly frustrated by the previous events.

Annabeth noticed how he said six months. That was somewhat of a long-term relationship and for all she knew she was just the rebound. She shook her head to rid herself of the gnawing thoughts.

"You okay?" Percy asked. He gave her a funny look with his dark brows furrowed.

"Oh yeah, sorry just clearing my head." She felt her cheeks color with a shade of strawberry read.

Percy gave her a light chuckle.

"Now that that's over, how about I take my lovely fiancee to the movie I promised her."

Annabeth chuckled.

"Yes, that would be a wise choice or I might just call off the wedding."

They laughed and Percy slipped his hand back into Annabeth's. It was such a natural thing and despite this being only the second date, both felt a deeper connection with each other. Of course there'd be nothing past hand holding for now.

"You know, I'm really glad it was my apartment you wandered into." Percy said as they approached the ticket booth inside the theater. Annabeth gave him a soft, endearing smile back. She was happy too.

A teenage boy with acne across his forehead asked what movie they'd like to see and before Annabeth got the chance to reply to Percy the boy was telling them their movie was sold out and the next time wouldn't be until ten that night. It was only five.

"You have got to be kidding!" Percy threw his hands up in frustration.

It seemed all their dates had been doomed from the beginning. Every encounter him and Annabeth had carried a stroke of bad luck or misfortune. He felt as though he had broken thirteen mirrors underneath a ladder.

"Sorry, man. You should've bought tickets ahead of time." The teenager shrugged, irritating Percy.

Annabeth laid an arm on his bicep which was taut with tension. She understood why he would be upset, after all it was his ex-girlfriend that had made him miss the movie, she'd be upset too. That is if she even had an ex.

"Hey, it's okay. We can go see it another day." She smiled at him, despite even her patience being pushed a little.

"Yea, I guess." Percy's voice was in a bit of a huff, but he tried to cool his frustration a bit.

"If it means anything, I can give you guys a free popcorn. It's movie theater policy." The teenager said, though both doubted it was. The kid probably just didn't want angry customers with him.

Percy perked up at the prospect of food.

"Yea that'd be great!"

The guy nodded and went off to scoop popcorn into one of the theater buckets. He handed it to Percy who promptly thanked him.

"Well I guess we should go then."

"Yea we probably should." Annabeth replied.

They walked back to the parking lot in search of Percy's Prius. The were walking in through the aisles, bot forgetful as to where they parked when out of the blue it started down pouring. There had been no forewarning or signs of the rain, but fat pellets of water began to furiously come down on them.

"Are you kidding me?!" They both exclaimed with no patience left.

The popcorn was ruined and the duo was drenched and shivering to their bones by the time they made it to Percy's car.

"It's always an adventure, isn't it?" Annabeth exclaimed bitterly.

"Yep."


End file.
